A Fox's Tail, the Journal's of Miles Prower
by Siranzan Prower - the Bard
Summary: This starts off with the Prologue to the actually story, it's extract from Tail's Journal, a few little bits and pieces, suggested romance, depression and actually romance, then the story starts, early on major TailsxCream, but then it all goes down hill.
1. Prologue

((This is written assuming that every episode is roughly 1 'day long, give or that about a couple of days or so))

**Prologue**:

_Extracts from the Diaries of Miles Prower, these entr__ies were discovered aboard the ruins of the Blue Typhoon, 20 years after his apparent death, shortly after discovering them, they were archived by the Mobius Archaeological Department, as a Testimony and a Tribute to one who fought so hard, and lost so much._

_Day 71, __Entry 74, Captain's Log – Miles Prower_

It's been a long day, it seems that the Meterax hadn't planned an ambush after all, oh well, Sonic was really disappointed, he really wanted a fight, which kind of makes him and Shadow seem so alike.

Anyhow, Cosmo, Amy and I were giving the Engines a good clean out today, it was lots of fun, those bubbles really do get everywhere and Cosmos and I got really wet during our bubble fight, and Amy got absolutely _furious_ with us, although she did enjoy watch Sonic slip on the bubbles and end up crashing in a heap, in fact we all did, for a Super-Fast hedgehog he really can be clumsy, after me and Cosmo had dried off, she seemed to be really detached, she kept gazing out into space, I don't know what wrong with her, maybe it's because she's afraid, then again, she's not alone I'm scared stiff,

Tails, Signing off.

-----

_Day 74,__ Entry 76 Captain's Log – Miles Prower_

WHY HER!, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY. Why did the Meterax use her, of all people why her, I mean, why couldn't it have been me, I mean … oh what do I mean, why so I feel so heartbroken, I mean I've never felt like this before except for maybe when, no I don't think so, it's just that, well, perhaps, I … I …I …I like her, I mean slightly more than just a 'friend', it's … it's just that, I can't tell her, every time I even think about it in the same room as her, my throat just shuts up, I mean, I don't know if what happened a few days ago was just spur of the moment, I mean it was a perfect evening but … I'm just not sure, I mean, I want her to be happy, but, oh… what to do, I mean were all gearing up for what might be our last fight, what if I die tomorrow, what if she dies tomorrow, how can I live without ever telling her, I mean, it just wouldn't be right, would it?, I mean, if I bring this out into the open, maybe I'll look like an Idiot, maybe the others will laugh at me, but she won't, I know she won't, but what would her response be, what if she likes Sonic or someone, I mean, she find us all in the fist place because she came looking for him, then again, Amy sorted that out, oh, I don't know what to do, if she dies tomorrow, then I … I … I don't know what I'll do, why am I such a coward, I've been through worse things than saying 3 words, but I just can't, I feel SO STUPID, why, why can't I tell her, ok.

And then there was Shadow, I mean he had no right to just turn up and try and kill her, I mean, I wasn't under any circumstances going let him get near her, at all, I would say that it's a could thing that the Meterax came when they did, but it wasn't good at all, but why am I so, I mean I had the courage to stand up to Shadow, who is at least as strong as Sonic, but why can't I tell Her, well, tomorrow is out last fight, If your reading this, then you're either me, or Cosmo, or someone else, but if you are Cosmo, then let me tell you those 3 words, I Love You.

Miles Prower, Captain of the Blue Typhoon, Signing off.

-----

_Entry__ 80, Home_

(Much of this extract has been stained with appears to be tears, so certain parts have been rendered unreadable)

We're home, we have lost so much, we lost Shadow, who saved both us and the universe, and we lost Cosmo, who gave her life to stop Dark Oak so that I and everyone else might live in happiness an--ut now she's dead, I never did tell her why? Why did I--hat I loved her, wh--t's just not fair, I never did get the chance, and at last, perhaps too late, we shared our first kis--, it was magical, but then she vanished from my life, never to retu-

-fter we returned I planted the seed, it was like I had never known her, it's my last hope, this may be the last thing that I own that hold memories of her, her scent her-- and now it seems that maybe, with a little care, and time I may see her again, I never was a good gardener, she knew that, but maybe, just maybe, it's time I tried.

-----

_Entry__ 87, Bud_

It's budding season on Mobius, all around me I see trees and flowers in bloom, but none of them like hers, everywhere I go now I see her, dancing in the corner of my eye, just out of reach, with her blue eyes sparkling in the sun, alas, the seed still grows however, it has a single bud on it, of the palest pink and a single rosy, green leaf, I tend to it almost every day, it is like my child, I suppose it's the closest thing I've ever had to a child of mine, and of our very own, and I will care for it as such, until one day, perhaps I may at last become the Father that I, and we wanted.

-----

_Entry__ 92, Friendship?_

You'll never guess what, me and Eggman actually managed to find some common ground, it seems that we both like shopping at the same big, supply depot, which is probably why I recognized the materials he was using, strange isn't it, I can find something we both like with someone that I should hate but don't, anyhow, Eggman has invited me over for lunch, he some crazy new invention he wants to show me, he said that he wants my opinion, but I think he's just lonely, I guess 2 robots isn't all that interesting for company.

The Seed is really starting to grow now, it seems to be variety of Rose of some kind, at least that's what Cream told me, she said that she wanted some milk, s she came round, why would she come to my workshop?, Sonic's house is much closer, oh well, I guess Sonic must have had none as well.

-----

_Entry__ 99, Mechanics_

I'm working on something top secret now, I _really_ want to finish it, the only problem is that whenever I sit down and try to finish it, I think of Cosmo, and then I can't work anymore because I start shaking so much, I really miss her, the plant is growing as well, it now has 2 flowers instead of one, and they opened today, the fragrance was so… familiar, it almost like she's calling out to me, from beyond the grave, which sounds really spooky, but Cream liked it, she seems to be coming around a lot recently, I bet the others have asked her to keep an eye on me, I don't blame them really, I have spent a lot of time shut up in my workshop, alone, working on another of my 'projects', although I think I'm almost finished, but I don't know what use it'll be, I started working on it a month ago for her, and then … now I guess I'll just have to get rid of it, but I can never scrap a project when I'm in the middle of it, I need to finish it first, but Cream said I'm just being _silly_ but who said I wasn't.

-----

_Entry__ 102, Completion_

Well, I finally finished it, I have now, officially created something new, it's called the _Green Hurricane_, I started making it when Cosmo was still with us, I meant to give it to her after our last battle, as our present, but… now I had to get rid of it, it took a lot of courage, more than I ever had, and now as I lie here on my bed I think, what would have happened if she had survived, would we perhaps have shared the happiness of my Life and hers, perhaps, perhaps not, Cream tells me that I'm just making myself more depressed writing this diary, but I don't care, I need to tell something how I fell, and I at least I know the Reaction that I'll get from a piece of paper, none, none at all.

----------

_The Following extract was taken from a letter from Sonic the Hedgehog to Amy Rose, although the letter is not dated, we have concurred that it is from roughly the same __time period as Entry 92._

and can you make sure that someone keep and eye on Tails for me, I think he might be going through a depression-stage, just so that he doesn't do anything he might regret, send someone like Cream, they got on rather well-

also, I think Eggman might be able to help, he had Tails have been spending quite a bit of time together recently, find out what they've been up to, ask Rouge, she'll probably know-

----------

_Entry 105, __Melancholy Happiness_

Cream came round today, for some reason it always seems to lift my spirits a-bit, she was wearing one of her new dresses, at least she said it was, they all look the same to me, and Cheese was very hyper, but then again what's new, she was in a very happy mood, but she's always like that whenever I see her, her mum had sent some food around, which was good, I didn't really feel like cooking, or going near anything sharp for that matter, but Cream insisted that I eat something, she even threatened to force fee me!, what up with that?, oh yea, Bokkun came round as well with a package from Eggman, it was some gardening tools, and some plant feed, how did he know, Bokkun wouldn't tell me, but I have the feeling that Cream isn't the only one keeping an eye on me.

-----

_Entry 111, Lost and Found_

Vanilla, Cream's Mum, came round to day, she had a very worried look on her face, she sat me down and we had a _long_ talk, she said the Cream had been very, very, very upset with my attitude for the past 3 weeks, and she got really cross at me, and she even started shouting!, which is probably a first for her, and 'Immature' was probably the nicest word she used, along with 'irresponsible', 'heart-breaking' and 'down-right rude', after she had calmed down, she tod me how Cream felt about me, which I must admit, shocked me, I mean, I knew she 'liked' me but I didn't know the extent, I mean, I wondered why she kept coming over, I thought she was just doing what she was told, it seems that there was something more to it, it's very un-creamish to try and be sneaky, and that point I zoned out completely, it was almost Deja-Vu and that brought everything crashing back down around me, and I burst into tears, Vanilla is almost the Mother I never had, she was so understanding, at that point however something stranger happened, I looked out of the window and saw a very upset Bokkun flying away, he had been listening at the door, I wonder what was up with him?

Then Vanilla politely went and left me to myself, and I just sat there, ignoring everything, I mean I felt like I had just died, I felt so numb, I just couldn't take anymore, and If I could how could I put someone else through it all, what if I lost Cream, that would kill me, and what if she lost me, that would more than likely kill her, she's a gentle soul. So what do I do?, do I make her happy or do I leave and never come back, if I leave, she may find someone else, and be happy, but if I stay, one of us is going to end up dead, one way or another.

-----

_Entry 127, Life_

Cream came around again, she looked really afraid, and she had left Cheese at home, which would be a first, normally she goes no-where without him, but she said she needed to speak to me alone, so we had a talk, she reminds me so much of Cosmo, she's polite, helpful and a good friend, it's just, every time I look at her now, I see horrible things happening, and then I see Cosmo's face, and I just can't say anything, in the end, she slapped me, yes, pacifistic, gentle, kind Cream the Rabbit, slapped Me, followed up by an epitaph using several words I can't repeat here, [just in case there are children reading this], to say that I was stunned would be a very large understatement, then she looked me with those huge Chestnut-Brown eyes, watering slightly and asked me, …, asked me if I love her, and I … I didn't know what to say, it was Cosmo all over again, and then I just was so overcome with emotion that I think I fainted, well at least that's what she told me when I woke up, lying on the floor, with an ice-pack on my head, and a worried Cream looking like I had just died, there were huge, luminous tears in those eyes, how could I refuse, then we kissed, it was like nothing we had ever experienced before, it was passionate, loving and tender, and then the perfect was ruined, by Vanilla knocking on the door, asking if she could borrow Cream, damn!

----------

_Unfortunately, the rest of the diary has been torn out, most probably by Tails himself, and extensive searching of his workshop so far has revealed no clues as to their location, alth__ough they were probably destroyed._

_This has been Siranzan Prower, descendant of Miles Prowler, and you have been watching 'a Heroes Tale' on Mobius TV__, this is the 30__th__ anniversary since our heroes return home._

((did you like it, well, since this is the prologue, the rest will all be written as a story, up until the point when I say so, please give me some review!))


	2. Remorse, Penance, Passion and Cream ?

((the First chapter seemed to be very popular, so I hope this one is at least as good, I decided to hurry things along a bit, next chapter is going to be **very** interesting!))

Tails sighed, he felt numb, he watched as Vanilla and Cream vanished into the distance, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, had they just, no, it must have been a dream, but it felt so real, it felt so … _good_, Tail shook his head, he shouldn't be thinking thought like that … about her, he got up of the floor and shuddered as the ice-pack fell off his forehead and slid onto the floor, his legs were shaking, as he leaned on the sofa as he carefully pulled onto his feet, and made his way into his bedroom and glanced at the clock, 3:30 it read, he sighed, before moving towards his shower, he needed some time to cool off and relax, he turned the water on hot, and stepped under the water, as the water ran through his fur, he could feel each individual drop hammering on his body, he absent-mindedly reached for the shampoo, and squeezed the tube into his hand and began rubbing, he never used soap, it worked well for people with skin, but fur, no way, the last time he did that, he had to shave most of his fur off, which was very embarrassing, and very cold. He ritually applied it to the whole of his body and both tails, then he rinsed it all of, and gave his tails another coating of the luxurious shampoo, he was very proud of them, they had got him out of enough jams as it was, and besides they made a very nice pillow, has he rubbed, his mind wandered, he though about what had happened today, he thought about what Cream had said, and he sheepishly recalled what Vanilla had said to him and shuddered, she had been very straight to the point, and had threatened to do a number of _very_ unpleasant things should he do anything 'improper' to Cream, not that he would of course, he was a Gentlefox after all, as he gently lathered his tails, he heard the door-bell ring,

"Awwww man!, could they have at least waited until I'd finished doing my tails", Tails muttered to himself grumpily, quickly grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his middle, but something was nagging him, he stepped out of the shower, and made his way out of the bathroom, he had originally decided long ago when he had first had this house built that _everything_ would be on one floor, that was until he expanded the workshop until he moved it upstairs, since he ran out of room, followed by the Hanger, which was directly below him and contained his beloved Tornado 2, he looked at his clock again, 5:14 it read, "Long Shower" he said aloud to himself as he crossed his living room and went to the door, he looked through the peep hole, and sighed inwardly, of all the times she had to come back, it had to be now, he flicked the lock back and opened the door to reveal,

"Hi Tails, I'm back, can I come in"

"Cream, do you really have to come in now?" Tails asked in a pained voice, tightening his grip on his towel

Cream looked at him, with those Chestnut eyes, she could melt his heart in a second with them if she wanted to, "Why yes Tails, I believe I do" she said in that innocent voice of voice, which she knew made his knees _so_ wobbly, Tails blushed deeply, before sighing listlessly

"Ok then, come in" Tail said, he knew he had lost that fight, as a smiling Cream bounced past him, she sat down on his sofa and looked at him oddly,

"Tails, I never knew you look so weird with you fur all wet" she said, suppressing a giggle, it was at that point when Tails realized what had been nagging him, he had forgot to use conditioner, so now his fur stuck up in all directions and he groaned, "Great" he thought "this is going to take _forever_ to straighten out", as he watched Cream giggling at him, he blushed again, going a bright crimson, which made him look like a beetroot with legs and tails, "Girls" he muttered to himself, walking back into his bedroom and finished drying himself off, before picking up a hair-dryer and trying desperately to get his fur to stay flat, in the end he gave up and left it, he gazed angrily at his reflection in the mirror, he looked like he had been dragged through a Hedge and he _really_ didn't like it, especially with Cream in his house, he sighed again, and picked up a watering-can, it was time he watered the seed, well, it was more of a plant then a seed, with 2 big pale-coloured flowers on-top, every time he looked at it, it brought back all of the painful memories, of what he had done, done to Cosmo, he felt a tear trickle down his cheek as he wiped it away, and walked through the Living room to his garden, Tails gazed down the garden, in opened up onto the edge of the hill, so he sometimes rolled down it, in the past, he heard Cream say something, but he didn't hear what she said, he was so focussed on doing this, with great care he gently lifted the can and evenly watered the ground around the beautiful plant, before his legs gave way beneath him and he slid to the ground weeping, huge tears of sorrow and remorse ran down his face as he recalled all of their good times together, as friends, he smacked his fist into the ground in frustration, as friends, nothing else, and before they had had the chance to take it any further, she had been cruelly taken from him, he raised his head and looked at this plant, the plant that had so consumed his life, it was his penance, his life, his soul, it was a part of his life, ad he could never bring himself to get rid of it, to him it was just criminal, his time with Cosmo had shaken the very foundations of how he saw life, he saw plants and animals equal to himself rather than beneath him, that had been one of the things that Cosmo had taught him, that life is life, no mater what shape or size, he continued to cry, stranded inside his own world of pain and anguish, until he heard a noise behind him, he turned sharply, he had forgotten that Cream was still here, and she stood there, framed against the door, a worried look on her face, slowly, carefully she stepped out of the door and crossed the grass, she knelt next to him and placed her hands in his,

"You miss her don't you?" she asked, her voice had a hint of sorrow to it, as his shaking hands took hers and he lowered his gaze, staring at the grass beneath them,

"I… I…" he felt a lump in his throat, as it had some often come, he gulped, "I… I…, yes" he said in a small voice, he sighed as he felt a huge weight on his shoulders disappear, although his hand continued to shake as embraced the small rabbit, tears flowing freely from his confused eyes and she gingerly embraced the sobbing fox, one of her closest friends, "Maybe" she thought, "just maybe we might be able to be more than friends" she thought, a small smile creeping onto her face as she held the fox close to her as she gently stroked him, time seemed to slow around Cream as she knelt there, embracing Tails, it was a perfect moment for her, as their eyes met, she looked into Tails clear blue eyes as he gazed back into her chestnut-brown, no words passed between them, but their eyes spoke for them, Cream could see the remorse, hope and genuine affection that clearly shone from his and in hers, Tails saw pity, kindness and pure, sweet love, he bowed his head, his yes closed, and sighed, it was a deep sigh filled with a mixture of emotions: sadness, yearning, sorrow, zest, frustration, remorse and perhaps, just a hint of lust. Cream looked at him, her tilted slightly to one side, every time she thought that she fully understood this strange little fox, she found a new side to him, and something told her that this side was all new.

Tails opened his eyes, he could hear the faint sound of the winds blowing through the trees, he could hear his heart pumping in his ears, and he could hear the two of them breathing, softly, quietly, quickly, he looked up, noting the inquisitive look on Cream's face, his breath caught in is throat as his noticed just how beautiful she looked, outlined against the setting-sun like a fiery angel, and for the first time in almost a month, Tails smiled, it was small, almost a slight curling at the sides of his mouth, but it was a start, and Cream returned his smile, with all of the hope it entitled the two of them. Tails carefully removed his hands from around Creams waist and sheepishly placed them on his knees, Cream did the same, as they both knelt there, just looking,

"C… C…, C… _Cream_" Tails said in a small voice

"Yes Tails" Cream replied, leaning closer to him, holding her breath

"E… Earlier, when we errrr... you know" Tails said blushing slightly, "were you just doing that to comfort me or… or because … because you Love me?" Tails asked, his voice crackling slightly, as he tried to hold back a tide of emotions

"What do I say" Cream thought, panicking "Perhaps … Perhaps I could tell him the truth, but … would that make him worse, or better, what if it just makes him more depressed or upset", she exhaled slightly, before drawing in a deep breath, "crunch time" she thought to herself as she opened her mouth,

"I… I don't know Tail's, believe me, If I knew I'd tell you, but … I don't I'm so confused" she began sobbing softly, clutching at her head with her hand, she felt so disorientated, it was like a dream and a nightmare both come true in the same instant, "what will mum say," she thought "Tails has basically asked me, 'Do you love me' to my face, what can I say, do I answer with my heart or my head, just as soon as I find them" her eyes screwed shut with concentration, and her hands over her ears, all she could hear with her rhythmic heart beating, bump, bump, bump, it was hypnotizing, she kept thinking over, and over, "What to I say", "What do I say" until, she began to see spots in front of her eyes, she wished she had cheese here, the little chao was always helpful when it came to making decisions, then she remembered that she had left him at home, he had wanted to come but she had asked him nicely, she had needed to see Tails _alone_, Cheese hadn't liked it at all. She opened her eyes and gazed at the Fox that knelt opposite her, she saw the tears beginning to form once again behind his eyes, as she raised a hand, Tails flinched as she reassuringly touched his cheek, a tear trickled down his cheek and she wiped it away nonchalantly, she leaned close, until her mouth was almost in his ear, in a small voice she whispered, "Of course I do was Tails, with all my heart", then Tails, bunched like a coiled spring, and purring slightly, flung himself on her naughtily, knocking them both backwards.

She had just enough time to say "**TAILS!**", before the two of them went rolling down the hill, landing in a heap at the bottom, Cream groaned slightly, shaking her head before realizing that Tails was lying on top of her, they both frantically untangled themselves from each other, pulling themselves apart, blushing furiously all the while, Tails eyes where about as big as plates, and so were Creams, she noticed that Tails was staring her oddly, just as she was staring at him, they were both so young, so new to this as they felt emotions and feeling that they had never experienced before, Tails was trying very hard to get his thoughts into some form of coherence, all the while trying not to look at Cream, but he couldn't help it, and neither could she, they were both so enthralled with each other, slowly, cautiously, they inched towards each other, breaking every social rule and barrier that had been hammered into them when they were young, they inched closer until they were within a few feet of each other, hearts pounding, breathing synchronised, their lips met, and the world around them exploded into fiery passion and burning concentration as feral instinct and burdening curiosity took over, as their hands deftly explored every surface and then began to move down until.

They broke apart, sweating profusely, and breathing deep breath of the cool evening air, Cream was looking at Tails, she felt exhilarated, she had never, ever felt so … in love with someone before, Tails look at Cream, he had never imagined that she could be so … invigorating, well he had privately, but that didn't matter now, his tails gently drummed against the grass as they stared at each other with varying levels of passion and anticipation, Tails felt his vision begging to blur slightly, he touched a hand to his head, then recoiled, his hands were freezing, then a thought came to him, one that made him grin

"Cream" Tails asked,

"Yes Tails" she asked sexily, fluttering her eyelashes

"How about we go inside and _warm_ up?" Tails suggested, raising an eyebrow, and looking at her with undisguised longing

"Why Tails, are you trying to seduce me?" Cream asked calmly, stroking one of her ears carefully, a hundred different ideas flying through her head at once, she lowered her eyelashes, she knew Tails would never resist her now, as they, hand-in-hand, skipped up the hill, towards the waiting house, all other thoughts forgotten.

As Tails opened the door, they pressed themselves together, mouths locked together, Cream felt her dress slide off her as they groped their way towards the bedroom, thought of anything else lost in the moment, finding the door, it opened as they crashed into the bedroom, locked in each others arms they fell onto the bed, with a squeal and a giggle they clung to each other, glued together in the throes of passion and the frenzy of love, they strained and moaned in the fading daylight, nothing else on their minds, so completely focused were they on each other and the task at hand, until … exhausted, they collapsed a-top each other, as the last rays of sunlight shone through the window, revealing Cream's gentle, sleeping face, a gentle smile playing on her lips, and then Tails horrified face, his eyes had the look of one who was eternally damned, his last thoughts, before exhaustion and tiredness robbed him of consciousness, his last thoughts were, "_What have I done!_" "Vanilla is going to **kill **me!"

((Vanilla is **not **going to be happy with Tails, oh dear, what happens next, well, did I move things to fast, or not, should I have dragged it out a bit, well I think I should have, but that's just my opinion, and what will Cream say when she wakes up. Tune in next time to find out))


	3. A Bad Morning, an AlterEgo and Amneisa

((Next Chapter is up, my longest chapter ever written so far, at about 5000, almost 6000 words or so, and they will get bigger, so enjoy, and watch the crisis unfold))

((Just a word of warning, if you get a little bit lost, don't worry, thing will be explained, a little bit later on.))

As the first rays of sun gently came through the window, Cream stirred, her sleep had been calm and peaceful, she stretched her arms and yawned, before gazing out of the Window at the view, she could see why Tails had built his house on top of this hill, the view was beautiful, with the sun rising over the forest, it was beautiful, although she preferred the sunrises on Earth, when it changed sides, rather than always on the same side, she sighed, looking across the bed at Tails face, although he was asleep, he had the look of someone who was being tortured, his face was twisted in what was meant to be pain, he was groaning and rocking left to right, she turned over and picked herself off the bed, then blushed deeply, and immediately realised that she wasn't wearing anything at all, she scurried around until she found her dress from the previous evening, it was ripped and torn in places, and she knew her mother wouldn't be very happy with her when she saw the state of it, "Tails really does have sharp claws under those gloves" she thought, then she sighed momentarily before going back into the bedroom, great!, she was stuck now with nothing to wear, unless Tails had anything to wear, and she severely doubted that, he never wore anything, unless he felt like being incredibly formal, so she went back to the bedroom and gently shook Tails shoulder, awake, he sat bolt upright his eyes bulging like balloons, "_What, Who, Where, When_" he said, his voice crackled slightly before, with a small sigh, he collapsed back onto the pillow, snoring loudly, Cream looked at him, he looked so sweet when he was like this, apart from the snoring, "fine then, plan B" she thought, she walked into the kitchen and rummaged around, opening various cupboards and drawers until she found what she was looking for, a bucket, she then proceeded to fill it with cold water, before walking back into the bedroom,

"Tails" she asked, trying to get his attention, although she knew it wouldn't work

"Huh!, w…w…w….what is it is Cream?" Tails said, his voice clouded with sleep, he rolled over, and groaned, he really didn't feel like getting up,

"Ok then, if that's they way you want it" she said sweetly before, dumping the water all over Tails, who jumped up like he had just been struck by lightning, immediately clinging to the ceiling like a cat, digging his fingers into the ceiling,

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" he almost screamed, clawing desperately at the ceiling before coming back down and landing with a THUMP on the soggy bed,

"I did as you if you'd get up" she said, dumping the bucket on the bed meaningfully,

"Ok, Ok I'm up what did you-" it was at that point that Tails notice that Cream wasn't….

"So glad you noticed, do you have anything that I can borrow" she asked, placing her hands on her hips,

"Oh, Oh, the wardrobe's over there" he said, pointing to his walk-in wardrobe,

"_Thank you_" she said sarcastically, waking in and firmly shutting the door behind her, Tails sat on the bed, rubbing his head, "Man!, what happened last nigh-!" then he stopped, as the cogs in his head very slowly began grinding forwards, click by click, through the fog of sleep, until….

"Oh……………….. Bugger … How on Mobius am I going to tell Vanilla, I'd be lucky to get out of the room alive, and/or in one piece" he said aloud to himself, not noticing that Cream had re-emerged from the wardrobe, she was wearing a blue T-shirt that had "Mechanic and Proud" written on the front in big, white letters, along with a small blue-and-green striped mini-skirt, ((What is he going to say?, well you'll find out, just not yet, Muhahahahahahahaha!))

"What was that about my Mum?" she asked, deftly placing her hands behind her head and staring at him,

"oh… well…., she kind of…., well…., she kind of came round here and threatened to do several very nasty and unpleasant thing should I…. well… you know… do anything to you!" he said, cringing slightly at the memories of yesterday, Vanilla had been **very** firm with him, Cream's expression hadn't changed one bit, then she sighed, "That is sooooo like my mum, she's to overprotective, I mean, I'm a big girl now, sort of" she thought, then aloud

"Oh Tails…," Cream said, giggling slightly, before coming to sit next to him on the bed, "you should know what my mum's like, she's always been overprotective, besides do you honestly believe that she's even capable of committing violence towards anyone?, at all?"

Tails looked sheepishly at her, "Weeeeeeell, I wasn't really all that sure at the time, but I think after last night, she just might be inclining in that direction" he said, worriedly rubbing his hands together, Cream, on the other hand, watched him, he was such a worrier, although it was part of what she found so attracting to him, he was always worrying about the tiny details, she guesses that it had something to do with being a Mechanic _and_ an Inventor, she smiled and Tails felt his spirits lifting, they always lifted when she smiled, unfortunately, his stomach didn't agree with his head and gave out a very large rumble, an odd silence hung in the air as they both looked at Tails stomach, then at each other, then looked back at his stomach, before bursting into peals of helpless laughter, it was such simple, childish humor, they were only young after all, Tails looked at Cream, she had grown up physically so much since there visit to Chris's world, and everything that happened since, but he had hardly changed, but on the inside, he was torn in 2, caught in the snare of love, Cream could see indecision in his eyes, she hurriedly cast around for another subject,

"Breakfast?" she asked nicely, gesturing out of the bedroom

"Oh … ok" Tails said, as they both got off the bed and, walked through the living room into the kitchen, it was rather big for a guy who lived on his own, but Cream guessed that he didn't do a lot of cooking now, too many sharp objects, she went over to the cupboards she had searched earlier, she was sure she had seen something edible in here somewhere, after about 5 minutes she gave up and turned back and looked at Tails, her question however, caught in her throat and she almost screamed, when she saw what his face looked like, it was an extremely pale colour, and his eyes had changed, from their normal, peaceful blue, to a sharp, angry red, and in those eyes, there was a look, it was……… it was………. a look of complete and utter despair and loss, she dropped the bowl she was holding, which fell to the floor with a _smash_!, which seemed to bring Tails so his senses, he flinched sharply as his eyes return to their normal hue, he sat up, a confused look on his face, he stared at her

"Uhhh… Cream?, are you ok?" he asked, scratching his head with one claw,

"Oh.. uhhh… nothing Tails" Cream said worriedly, then the phone rang, shattering the strange atmosphere in the room, Cream turned around and picked the phone of the sideboard,

"Hello? Prower Residence"

"_Hello?, Tails? Are you …?, ohh it's you Cream?, what are you doing there?_"

"Doctor Eggman?, what do you want Tails fo-"

"_Look Cream, no time for explanations, I need you to bring Tails, over to my Laboratory, you do know where it is?_"

"But…"

"_No Time for that Cream, this is Important! …………._"

Cream put the phone back down, a puzzled look on her face, "Tails?"

"Yes Cream" Tail replied, not really paying much attention to her, he was too bus thinking, he could hear something talking in the back of his mind, something he was really trying to focus on,

"Eggman wants to see you" Cream said, carefully edging around the table, keeping her distance from Tails, something wasn't right here, and whatever it was, she really wanted to get sorted.

"Cream, it's not like I'm going to explode, come on, we'd better go and see what Eggman wants" he said complacently, putting on his shoes, and tugging his gloves onto his hands, he opened the door and stood to one side as Cream passed him, "What's up with her" he thought as he shut the door behind them, and locked it, as the two of them made their way down the hill, both trying to stay as far away from each other as possible, Cream because she didn't want to be caught wit hails, especially by her mother, Tails was thinking the same thing, except he was thinking more about what Vanilla would do if she found out about last night, as the pair of them walked through the fields to Eggman's laboratory, ever since they had returned from their fight with the Meterax, Eggman and Sonic had kept their rivalry to a minimum, since they really had no reason to fight, unless they got bored, so Eggman and Tails had been spending quite a bit of time together, Cream felt slightly jealous, Tails never spent that much time with her, but she let that pass, a guy needs some vices after all, and she had heard that the 2 of them had been churning out some very interesting inventions, she rang the bell and the door was answered almost immediately by Eggman himself,

"Ahh, Cream you make good time, come on in, and Tails, how have you been?" Eggman asked

"I'm ok" Tails said dejectedly, he had two big, grey circles under his eyes, and his eyes looked tired, as Eggman hurried the two of them inside and down, down, down, until they reached a huge room, "Welcome to my Laboratory Cream, it's not _quite_ as big as Tails is, but its big enough for me to get done what I need to do" Eggman said modestly, it seemed to stretch forever, various robots, machines, and technical bits and bobs stretched for at least a mile, Eggman led the two of them over to a huge machine, it appeared to be some kind of scanner, although it was much, much, much larger

"Ok Tails, same as last time, you still up for this!" Eggman asked, walking over to one of the control panels, and start twirling dials and pushing buttons, Tails climbed onto this machine and lay down and closed his eyes, to Cream he looked so peaceful with his eyes closed, she thought, as Eggman beckoned her over, ((Imagine something like one of those EMR machine thingmies, the ones they use to scan people brains and stuff))

"Look Cream, this could get ugly, I'm not going to ask you to leave, it's your choice" Eggman said kindly, or at least he tried to,

"Errrr…. Doctor Eggman, Just what are you doing" Cream asked

Eggman sighed, he was hoping that it wouldn't come to this, "I can't really explain it Cream, but I can show you", Eggman, pushed a small red button and the Tray with Tails lying on it, slid very carefully under the scanner, as a glass cover, sealing him inside, a green light started shining form inside, as Cream tried to peer inside, until she felt a restraining hand on her shoulder,

"I wouldn't recommend doing that, those laser can blind people" Eggman cautioned, as he pushed a few more buttons and a 3-D model of Tails appeared on a huge screen, Eggman pulled out a Laser points, clicked it a few times to make sure it worked before turning to face Cream,

"Ok, if you don't understand, just say so and I'll try and simplify things" Eggman said, he took a deep breath and started,

"Now as you know, a while back, we all lost a certain friend who was very close to us, but _much_ closer to Tails then anyone else" he lectured, watching as Cream nodded, they had all been shaken-up by Cosmo's Death

"Now normally what happens is that our natural mind allows us to 'get over' these kinds of things, but in the case of foxy-boy over there, his mind has taken slightly more drastic action than it normally would" Eggman paused to gather his breath, "It seems that he was so shaken up by killing Cosmo that, to protect itself, his consciousness has split itself, right down the middle, so now in a way we have 2 of him, we have Tails, kind-hearted, friendly, loving and almost as smart as me" Eggman raised an eyebrow at Cream and she blushed, "and then we have his 'other- half' so to speak, containing his anger, his hatred, his sorrow, his loss, and apparently his Love, so for the sake of consistency I've called it Miles, now it seems that his other half is predominantly able to gain control mainly when Tails so overcome with sadness, loss, mourning, anger, etc. that he can't think coherently, now correct me if I'm wrong, but that's where you come in, your timely intervention yesterday evening was probably what saved Tails from himself" Cream was really blushing now, then she had a turn to speak (if you haven't figured it out yet, most of the above was just a combination of old tosh I threw together, coupled with to many late nights talking with myself, although I think I watched to many late-night films about psycho's, but hey, this is a fan-fic, it doesn't have to make sense, much…)

"Doctor" she asked, blushing even more, "Just how did you find out about … yesterday" she asked,

"I've been keeping an eye on our mutual friend over there for some time Cream, his obsession with that plant of his coupled with the fact that he is still feeling this remorseful has had me worrying for sometime, so I asked Bokkun to install a few camera's, although I left the bedroom clear, and it's good that I did, you two were doing rather well when you fell off my scopes"

Cream was _really_ blushing now, she tried to ask another question but Eggman cut her off

"it's ok I won't tell your mother, until you're ready, but back on subject, it seems that Tails now has 2 personalities, and the question I'm posing is this, which one are **you** in love with?, the kind, caring Tails, or the anguished, vengeful Miles, was lat nights performance really because you love him?, or was it because you were just keeping him happy?"

Cream's face lit up like a bonfire, she felt conflicting anger and shame and sorrow, what could she say, she was so unsure, Tails had been so … in need of someone, did she do it out of pity, or was it really love?, did she give up something so valuable just out of pity, No, it had to have been … something else, she had felt so caught up in the moment, that she didn't know, it looked like Tails to her, but once, she thought it had been a trick of the light that his eyes had gone red, she sighed and looked at Eggman, and he looked back, then he turned back to the 3-D image of Tails

"I thought so, you see Cream, if my theory is correct, then you have to realise that you are just about the only thing that is keeping Tails even slightly sane at the moment, for him to lose you now would be .. well I don't even want to contemplate what that would do his already shattered consciousness" Eggman said worriedly "he needs you now more than ever, more than he ever needed or wanted Cosmo, do you understand that?" Eggman asked as the machine behind him beeped, and a huge cloud of steam billowed out from behind the glass door as it opened, Eggman walked over to the still form of the sleeping Tails and placed a hand on his forehead, "at least his temperature is steady" he muttered to himself as he picked up a tick chart attached to a clip-board and began ticking or filling in various boxes, as he gently shook Tails awake.

-----

Tails was dreaming, he didn't dream very often these days, not since …, he could feel himself floating as he gently drifted through his own mind, he could feel memories tugging at him like little insect as he gingerly explored what he though was his own mind, he found memories of his childhood, the first time he met Sonic, and Cream, and Amy and all the others, it was like a giant library, and he was content to spend all eternity just, browsing his life, until he came to what appeared to be a black 'blob', it just sat there, immobile, blocking his path into his memories, he touched it, it felt wet, almost like … fur, he looked at his hands as the black blob in-front of him seemed to waver and shimmer for a second before vanishing, revealing …

"_What!_, but … but that's impossible" Tails exclaimed, falling backwards and landing with a soft bump onto the ground, behind that wall stood … himself?, at least it looked like him, except that whereas Tails fur was a light orange, his fur was a motley mix of black and gorange that made his seem tiger-like, and his eyes glowed with a red aura, it was almost like a clone of some kind, he looked at Tails with an Evil grin spreading across his face,

"Well, Well, it seems you've finally set me free Tails, it's so nice to meet you face-to-face" he said, his voice was deeper and more masculine than Tails's although it had a slightly harsher edge to it,

"Who …. Who are you" Tails asked, gingerly getting to his feet, "What are you doing in my head?"

"Why Tails old-chap, haven't you figured it out yet?, I am you, just slightly more … negative, I was born from all of your overwhelming Sadness, your vengeful Remorse, your explicit Anger, your painful Anguish, and believe-it-or-not your lustful Love, all because of the death of dear old Cosmo, such a shame really" his doppelganger said, brushing some imaginary dust of one of his gloves, "It seems you're divided straight down the middle, firstly there's you, desperately clinging onto the hope that Cosmo just might be alive out there", then he paused and licked his lips, "And then there's me, I'm more of a … realist shall we say, I'm the part of you who's in love with dear little Cream, although ….., I'm still not sure who was in control last night, although I do believe it was … you" Tails felt himself collapse, supporting himself on the floor, he could feel a knife twisting in his heart, slowly, painfully, his doppelganger laughed, it was soulless, and harsh, and almost out of place,

"Hurt's doesn't it, you betrayed her didn't you, you let your last hopes be shattered by that luscious little rabbit, didn't you Tails" Tails felt himself crying, tears rolled down his cheeks and he clench his fists in anger, "Who is this guy" he thought, his mind starting to seethe with anger,

"What happened Tails, couldn't you help yourself, it's only natural" his doppelganger taunted, walking until he stood a few steps from Tails,

"Well then, what are you going to do, which of us will gain control, Cream is mine after all, not yours, tell me, you put yourself through all of that pain and lust for a few moments relief, and that's not all, now your all torn up with indecision, now you don't know whether or not to stay with Cream, but I wonder what would happened if she left you", his doppelganger ridiculed as Tails felt the bottom drop out of his heart, falling into oblivion, No!, it wasn't possible, what would Vanilla say, what would he do, he would have … nothing, at all, he needed her, although he didn't like to admit it, he could feel the knife twisting in his heart every time he even thought of it, Cream was almost all he had left now, Cosmo had gone, and left him with nothing but a seed and a broken heart, Tails could hear a sound in the back of his head, it was someone calling his name, he recognised it, it was familiar, but .. who … who was it?, it was definitely female, then he heard a buzzing noise, it was _really_ high pitch as Tails grasped is ears, his hearing was very acute, and something that high could potentially deafen him, he looked at his Doppelganger, and was surprised to notice that he was doing the same thing, then he opened his eyes…

(OMG, Identity Crisis/Random)

-----

To say that Cream verged on panic would be a very big understatement, she was really starting to worry, they had been waiting for almost an hour, and Tails still showed no response, that was until she noticed that his hands were shaking, and she clasped it in her hands, "Please Tails, Please wake up!" she thought, directing it mainly at Tails, as she heard his breathing begin to slow, until his eyes opened, they were their normal, bright blue …

Tails blinked in the bright light, he could feel his hands shaking, he looked around, he was in Eggman's Lab. How did he get here?, then he noticed Cream and Eggman, standing either side of him, both of them looked worried, but Cream looked panicky, Tails tried to rub his head, until he realised that his hand was stuck in Cream's hands, so he used the other, her eye's shone when he looked at her, before, sobbing, she threw herself round his neck, sobbing, Eggman looked at her, Tails shrugged at him as he turned back around to a huge display, as Cream whispered in his ear, "I thought I had lost you!" she said, her voice filled with tears like her eyes,

"Did you?" Tails said mildly as he sat up, he still felt giddy, and his hands were shaking like an V8 engine, he looked at Eggman who was busy looking at a huge model of him, "Do I really look like that?" he thought, as her carefully removed Cream's arms from around his neck, "Not now" he said softly, Eggman came over, his face seemed split between sadness and over joy,

"Tails"

"Yes Eggman"

"Just a couple of questions, then you can go, ok?"

"Sure"

"Now if you don't mind me asking, what were you dreaming about"

At that question, Tails felt the fur on the back of his neck rising, he could feel an immense 'pressure' building inside his head as he tried to ignore it

"Tails?, what were you dreaming about?" Eggman repeated, looking worriedly at the display on the wall, the bars on one side were going up and down like an elevator

Tails could feel himself begging to lose control, his hands move at their own accord as he pushed himself of the Tray and stood up,

Eggman looked at him "TAILS?, what are you-" then he noticed his eyes, they were bright red

"Cream, Run!" Eggman said, as Cream backed away from Tails

"But Doctor what's -" Cream looked first at Eggman, then at Tails

"Cream, look at his eyes" Eggman warned, as Tails suddenly lashed out, his fists catching Eggman in the stomach, knocking him over, then Tails stood on top of the struggling Eggman and almost casually rapped Eggman between the eyes, knocking him out cold, then he turned around until he faced Cream, she was scared stiff, as she stared at Tails, his eyes, they were… red, but that wasn't right, there was Anger in those eyes, and remorse, and Lust?

"Well then Cream dear, how do I look" he asked as he carefully inspected himself,

Cream looked at him carefully, until she realised what Eggman had said, "Hello Miles" she said, now knowing who she was talking to,

"Ahh… it's so good that someone actually knows who I am, even Tails doesn't know, yet!" Miles said, as he casually jumped off the unconscious Eggman and walked over to Cream, licking his lips slightly, "I wonder …" he said aloud as he very slowly reached out to grab the terrified Cream, (just in time) a blue blur came hurtling out of nowhere and struck him in the chest, sending him flying into one of Eggman's machines, causing it to exploded into a fiery ball, Cream screamed as Miles vanished into the inferno, then she glanced at Sonic, "Thank God he arrived in time" she thought as Sonic picked her up and sped towards the stairs,

"Cream, I need you to stay here" Sonic said, depositing her on the stairs, he turned back to face Miles, who was standing calmly in-front of him,

"You need to work on that aim Sonic, I almost got roasted" Miles said, cracking his knuckles, now the real fight would begin, Sonic and Miles went at each other like a hammer and tongs, kick-for-kick and blow-for-blow they fought their way through Eggman's Lab, Miles was quick, Sonic admitted, quicker than he was, but fast he wasn't as Sonic ran rings around him, however Sonic was unsure of what he was going to do, Miles on the other hand was, he deftly twirled a spanner and threw it, it landed with a CLANG!, catching Sonic on top of his head, Miles cringed,

"Ooooooh, he'll feel that in the morning" he said naturally as a huge, spiked fist, caught him in the side of the mouth, sending him sprawling across the floor, "Back-Off Foxy boy" Knuckles said as he made another lunge at Miles, who rather easily, ducked before knocking Knuckles off balance with a swipe of his foot and sending him crashing to the ground,

"You need to go to the gym more often Knuckles, people might think you're starting to go soft" Miles said as he kicked Knuckles in the pit of his stomach, causing him to collapse in a fit of choking, then there was a sickening _crunch_ as a heart-broken Cream brought a piece of metal straight down on the back of Miles head, he collapsed like a sack of potatoes as Knuckles winked at Cream, (OMG Cream just hurt someone, badly, my god, next the sun will explode, [suddenly consumed by fiery ball of liquid death])

"Not bad" Knuckles complimented, picking himself up, gingerly clutching his stomach, "although you need to work on you're swing a-bit" he added, as he tried to regain his breath, he looked at Tails, "What happened to Tails Cream?" he asked, as Cream helped him towards the stairs, he had Tails over one shoulder and Sonic over the other, and for a hedgehog and a small fox, they were heavy, Knuckles turned back to the burning laboratory, he was considering leaving Eggman down here to rot, but that wouldn't be the right thing, sighing, he dumped Sonic and Tails in a pile at the top of the stairs and went back to retrieve Eggman, (I almost left him to die [I'm sooooo Evil])

"You owe me big time for this Eggman" Knuckles growled as he strained under Eggman's Bulk, "He needs to lose some weight", Knuckles thought as he half carried, half dragged Eggman towards the door, he glanced at his gloves, there was a long crack running from the tip of one spikes on his left glove, "Tails sure has a hard mouth, for a fox" Knuckles thought as he dumped Eggman onto of Tails and Sonic, then he pulled out his Cell-Phone, "_Hello .. can you get me the Hospital please_"

-----

Cream sat nervously in the Waiting Room, she was scared, she had never felt so … hopeless in all her life, she was relieved that Sonic has shown up when he did, otherwise she didn't know what Miles might have done to her, she shuddered at the thought, she looked around her, Knuckles was with her, although he had a rather large bruise on his stomach, and Decoe and Bocoe were nervously waiting for Eggman to recover, Cream stared through the huge glass window, lying in the Ward were Eggman, who had a large portion of his body in bandages, Sonic, who had broken his arm after colliding with a wall, and Tails, who was as still as anything, the doctor had but his on a breathing machine because of his shallow breathing, he hadn't moved or even opened his eye since she had whacked him over the head, which the doctor said had broken a large portion of the back of Tails skull, meaning that he would be in hospital for some time while his body recovered, Cream wasn't sure how hard she a had hit Tails, although she was sure it was _very_ hard, Knuckles had said that she must have not known her own strength, but Cream still found herself struggling to come to terms with the face that she had hurt someone, she had never, _ever_, liked violence, she sighed, she could consider that later, she got up and stepped into the Ward, it was cool, and fresh, she looked across at Sonic, who smiled at her,

"Hiya Cream, how are you" Sonic asked

"I'm fine Sonic, how's Tails?" she replied as Sonic heaved himself out of his bed and hobbled over with her to Tails Bed, he looked pale and worn-out, a large ball of Bandages covered the back of his head, and his hands, arms and legs were covered in small cuts and bruises, he looked a state, although a soft smile was on his lips, Cream shuddered, not long ago he had cut his way through 2 of her friends, Eggman, and almost got his hands on her, not the kind of things that dream relationships are made of, she knelt by his bed and grasped his hand, "Tails are you ok?" she asked, not expecting a reply, as she gently stroked the hand of her dearest friend as his best friend watched, she blushed slightly as Sonic looked at her, his expression set in stone,

"Have you told Vanilla?" Sonic asked, raising an Eyebrow, Cream's blush deepened

"Uhhh … well … not really Sonic" she admitted, hanging her head as she heard Sonic stifling a laugh,

"Ohhh… Cream, you are such a dear, she won't mind, In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if secretly she was happy for you, Tails is a nice guy" Sonic said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, Cream turned her head and gave him a small smile, then she turned back to look at her estrange friend, almost as if finally sensing her hand, his grip tightened softly around her hand, she gave a big smile as Tails eyes, slowly, painfully, opened, squinting, then his pupils dilated with fear and he recoiled, pulling his hand out of her grasp, he looked at her, a mixture of Fear and Confusion spreading across his face and eyes, Sonic looked on, amazed,

"Uhhh… Tails, buddy are you ok" Sonic asked as Tails gently settled back down, although confusion still registered on his face, he looked at Sonic, and spoke in a voice that seemed almost complacent,

"Sonic"

"Yes Tails?"

"Sonic .. Where's Cosmo?" he asked, tilting his head to one side, his expression confused (_WHAT!_ is exactly what I said after realising what I had wrote)

Sonic and Cream both stared at each other, then at Tails, then back at each other, and Sonic could faintly see Tears brimming behind those chestnut-brown eyes.

((Oh My God, Tails doesn't remember a thing, Yes … I know, you probably got lost, well guess what, I did in writing it, but I write sort of spur-of-the-moment, so it may seem a little illogical, also, wonder how Cream is going to take the next phase of this emotional rollercoaster, and maybe a little refresher is in need, as Tails gets a blast from the past, and the future as well may I add,))

((DO appreciate the fact that this took **_FOREVER_** to write [type?] so Enjoy, Comment, Criticize, and beat yourself over the head waiting for the next installment of the Story))

((You just had to look and see if something else was written huh?)) [HaHa...HaHa... HaHa, I'm funny, and sooooo **EVIL**]


	4. a Visit, a Revelation and a Repeat

Cream fled the ward, barely registering anything as sadness consumed her, she didn't stop to think, she just ran, what she had just heard had shaken her very core, he didn't remember anything, not their time together, Eggman, nothing, it was like they had never had their time together, maybe it was just Tails luck, first Cosmo had been cruelly taken from him, and now She had been as well, tears rolled down her cheeks as she pushed her way past people and animals alike until she found herself in an abandoned ward, alone and upset, she cried out her heart, her existence, her very soul, as tears streamed from her cheeks, landing in a small puddle at her feet, she could feel herself quivering like a leaf, she wished that she had brought Cheese with her, the little chao always cheered her up, but she had left him at home, with strict instruction not to come with her, "now he probably hates me" she thought as she helplessly began banging her fists on the floor, "It's just not fair, it's just not fair" she wailed as she carelessly knocked over a vase, sending it crashing to the ground, that brought her to her senses, she stopped, panting in the dark concealment of this abandoned ward, she felt, hot, rigid anger and pain coursing through her veins, how dare he, how dare he forget, after all she had done for him, tired to help him, and stood by him when he needed her, and now he just _forgot_, she was going to get to the bottom of this, make no mistake.

-

As the light began to dim in the sky, Sonic stared out of the ward windows, watching the sun set slowly in the sky, he was beginning to worry, Cream had been gone for a while now and now Tails was starting to get nervous, since he couldn't remember a thing of the past month or so, he thought he was in the medical wing of the Blue Typhoon, so kept asking why we had stopped, Eggman and Sonic had fabricated about having to 'stop for repairs'. As Tails dozed, Eggman had explained what had happened, although perhaps slightly more in-depth than what he told Cream, she was only young after all, and it seemed to Sonic that Eggman had been right for once. Sonic sighed, what was he going to tell Vanilla, he could wait for Cream to get round to it, but then what would Vanilla say to Tails, he couldn't remember a thing, Sonic hobbled back over to his bed and lay down, he was mentally exhausted, which must have been a first for him, usually he his mind was about a mile behind him, but today he had done nothing but think, since the doctor had forbid him from doing any running ,which, for sonic, was the equivalent of torture, He gazed at the ceiling as the fog of sleep began to settle in his head, he closed his eyes and relaxed, time for a nice long nap, then maybe in the morning, he could see if he could sneak out of here and go for a nice long run.

-

The Hospital darkened as lights were turned off and as staff, nurses and doctors made their way home, and also as one, very determined rabbit crept through the hospital, her soft shoes making little noise on the marble floor. She crept through the wards and rooms until she found the one she was looking for, _Intensive Care_, she had heard one of the doctors saying that they had moved Tails after Eggman had explain the situation to the doctors, he now lay, rather well restrained, somewhere behind those doors, as she pushed through the doors, she got the unmistakeable whiff of hospital, she didn't mind hospitals all that much, but it was the smell that made her gag, she held her nose bravely as she crept silently, weaving between bed until she found what she was looking for, a huge opaque glass box of sorts, almost like a window, surmounted with metal and with a small door, the glass looked at least an inch thick, if not thicker, she walked around the box until she found the controls for it, it was a simple keypad, hooked up to a small screen, she had heard Eggman boasting earlier that he had personally done the password, and that no-one other than him would know, Cream's small smile light up on her face as she tapped 5 letters into the keypad,

_C__-O-S-M-O_

Her Smile grew bigger as the door slowly opened with a _hiss_ of pneumatics and a small cloud of steam, she looked through the open door, and gasped, the room was … empty?, she wandered in, frantic, but if Tails wasn't here, then where was …, the wheels in her head slowly turned until, at last, something clicked … it was a trap, too late, she realised the door was closing, she made a dive for the exit, but didn't make it, as she watched the door close, on the other side of the door, she saw a blue figure, it was Sonic

"_Sonic Hedgehog, you let me out of here NOW!_" Cream screamed, beating her palms on the door desperately, the blue figure shook it head, as a voice came over the internal intercom

"Sorry Cream, you know I can't do that, if I let you out, you'll only confront Tails, and that will make things worse, we both know that", the truth in his voice, struck her each time like a hammer as she slumped to the floor crying, Sonic sighed, he hated to manipulate people, he like to leave that kind of thing to Eggman, but this had been necessary, he had arranged for Vanilla to pick Cream up tomorrow, then he'd sit Vanilla down and explain, with Eggman's help of course.

-

Tails sat up, rubbing the un-bandaged side of his head, part of his him was wandering, what happened to Sonic and Cream, another part was asking why he was alone in this ward, he preferred being with Sonic and Eggman, although with Shadow standing outside the door, it was very unlikely that he would get anywhere, he sighed and lay back as he thought about what had happened, he wondered why they were all off the Typhoon, maybe while he had been asleep they had found a nice little planet somewhere, he wondered what had happened to Cosmo, so far she was the only he hadn't seen, he had seen Cream, Sonic, Amy had popped in for a visit, and so had, surprisingly, Eggman. He wondered why the Meterax hadn't found them yet, normally every time they stopped, a Meterax turned up, almost like they knew exactly where they were.

He heard the door sliding back, he sat up as Sonic entered the room, holding a small, brown book in his hands,

"Hi Tails, how are you?"

"I'm ok Sonic, have you seen Cosmo?" Tails asked eagerly, he hadn't seen her in ages, and he was _really_ starting to miss her

"No I haven't Tails, she must be around here somewhere, oh and I brought you some reading material" Sonic tossed the book onto the bed, and walked out again, closing the door softly behind him, and exchanging a brief, formal nod with Shadow, before vanishing in a blur, Tails sighed again, before he picked up the book that Sonic had left him, and almost dropped it, this was … his diary?, how did Sonic find it?, then again, Sonic was like an older brother to him, so he knew Tails like an open book, Tails lay back on the bed and shut his eyes, he was tired, so he snuggled down into the bed and went to sleep, although it was a troubled sleep, filled with Nightmare of Cosmo, he imagined that he had been forced to kill her, it was scary, then he felt a light touch on his brow, he didn't open his eyes, so much as peek through a tiny crack, standing beside his bed was … A fox?, she was female, with a bright yellow fur, and her eyes were a pale purple, she looked almost exactly like him, except that she … she had a red streak running from her right ear, straight down to her wrist, she was wearing on her wrist what appeared to be some kind of gauntlet, she carefully placed something on his bedside table, before looking at him, and her eyes seem to illuminate "Remember, Grandfather" he heard her voice inside his mind, almost like … , then she vanished, Tails jumped, sitting upright and rubbing his eyes, it must have been a dream, mustn't it?, he waved a hand in the area that had so recently been occupied by … someone, Tails lay back on the bed, his thought mixed, before he fell asleep, one question ran through his mind "Who Was That?"

Tails sat up, looking at the clock, it was 4:30 in the morning, he groaned, before noticing that his Diary was still on the bed, he picked it up, and eventually found a pen ling on his bedside table, "Oh I may as well write in today" he thought, "let me I've been here for about 2 days, minus the 3, carry the 4, that makes it … Day 71 .. I think", Tails opened his diary, and flicked through it until he found his most recent entry, "_WHAT!_ …… but, that's impossible_"_ Tails began rapidly flicking through his diary, panic starting to spread, "Whats going on?, I can't have already done all of this, I mean, I must have miscalculated or something, this isn't right, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!", Tails began tearing pages out of his diary, "This wasn't here, this wasn't here, this wasn-" then he stopped, one of the entries caught his eyes, he stared at it for a long time, as each word that 'he' had supposedly written soaked thoroughly through him, he began to shake, as tears formed in his eyes, he blinked and a tear rolled down his cheek, before landing with a splat in the middle of the entry, then he hurled the book across the rooms, smashing a small hole in the window, before collapsing in the bed, Shadow was in the room in a flash, and there, on the bed, surrounded by the tattered remnants of pages from his diary, and crying his heart out, was Tails, Shadow went over to the wall-phone and dialed a number,

"Hello?, Sonic … yes, yes he did … good!" Shadow put the phone down and walked over to the cupboards and pulled out some aspirin and a poured a glass of water for Tails from the pitchers, he walked over,

"Tails? ….. Tails?"

But Tails didn't here him, he was a broken-fox, his heart had just tumbled out of his life and his brain was on fire, he clutched his head as memories, both 'new' and old flooded through his mind, then he saw …

At that point Shadow had had enough, he picked up the pitcher of ice-coldwater and dumped it all over Tails, it was freezing cold, but it did the trick, Tails felt upset, loss heart-broken, and now he was wet, "but at least he's not crying anymore", Shadow thought as he handed Tails the Water and the Aspirin before walking out, before he closed the door, he turned to face tails, who had a desperate look on his face, "You'd better take those Tails, or I'll force you to" Shadow remarked as he walked out, Tails felt numb, he couldn't even feel his heart beating he just wanted to … die, he had lost the one of the few things that his life had revolved around, he felt like someone had ripped out his heart, "it wasn't fair, why did it have to be her" he yelled, fling himself on the bed, hammering at it with his hands and his feet, almost like a childish temper-tantrum, he thrashed on the bed, his sadness and his anger overwhelming, then he stopped, suddenly, he felt like … hadn't he done this before, the thought chilled his soul, "What have I forgotten?" he asked the empty room, getting no response, he sighed and pushed himself out of his bed, he felt a little bit wobbly on his feet, and his head still hurt, but he … he had to get home, to see what he … what he had missed, he opened the door, and quietly crept passed a dozing Shadow, "he must be tired" Tails thought, "He doesn't often sleep" and pushed his way through the double doors, suddenly, he was in a Hospital, he looked around, confused, "I guess I'm not on the Typhoon anymore" a voice in his head said "Bugger"

-

Cream blinked sleep from her eyes, she was tired, dead tired, hours of banging and screaming at her own reflection, she looked at her hands, a large bruise was begging to forming the centre of her hand from where she had tried to smack her way out, to no avail, her throat was hoarse from all of her shouting and her clothes that she had borrowed from Tails were damp and disheveled due to all the tears, she sniffed slightly, rubbing her nose, she looked around her, she could make out shapes, figures through the glass, but she couldn't see their faces, but one figure she did recognize was the blue one that appeared every other hour, calmly watching, patiently waiting, until she came to her senses, she knew that she was being completely irrational and illogical, but what did she have left, the Tails she knew was gone, replaced with either with a Forgetful Friend or an Egotistical Lover, she wiped away some more tears as she recalled what had happened the previous evening, how the Tails she had known, and … and loved, vanished, replaced with a simpleton who knew nothing about her, and then there was Miles, Cream knew he was after something, why else would he have gone through all the trouble of beating up Sonic, Eggman AND Knuckles, she yawned, it had been a sleepless night for her, every time she tried to close her eyes to sleep she saw his face, red-eyed and grinning, reaching out to grab her, so she had given up. Now she restlessly paced the Cell, up and down, waiting … waiting, she felt like she was waiting for an executioner than her mother, as questions ran through her head, what was she going to say?, and just how much were Eggman and Sonic going to tell her?, and just would she do to Tails? And what if Tails didn't remember what happened?, and what would Tails say if he didn't remember?, and hundreds more as she nervously paced.

-

Tails wandered, his movements almost instinctive, he had snatches of memory, a left, then a right, followed by another left and then back a bit and take the nex- ohh what was the point, he was lost, this … well he assumed it was a hospital was massive, doors and bright lights seemed to be everywhere, he confusedly walked, taking another right, coming to a huge sign reading, _Intensive Care_, as he carefully ran his hands down the sign, he remembered, something ,he concentrated, what was it, he remembered .. floating, there were people, doctors, both human and animal, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a sign, he recognized the sign now, "I came here?" he thought, pushing his way through the flimsy double doors, revealing another ward, except this one .. felt different, somehow … familiar, he wove his way through the maze of beds and machinery, everything seemed so … déjà vu, as he noticed that his feet were instinctively leading him towards a huge kind of opaque glass fish-tank, covered in metal, making it look like a present, he could make out a shape inside that dome, pacing back and forth, it was a strange mix of blue and green, his feet guided him round the box until it came to the door, he pressed his hand against, it was cool and hard, he rapped his knuckle against it, it was think, then he noticed the keypad, he reached out, his hand shaking, as it seemingly guided itself over the keypad, instinctively he pushed a button, then another, and another followed by 2 more, he carefully spelled out the word in his head, as a tear rolled down his cheek, he wiped it away and pushed _Enter_, almost immediately, a hiss on pneumatics pulled the door open, followed by a cloud of smoke, coughing, he peered through the smoke, trying to discern who this figure was, then he heard a voice, that shook his very being,

"Tails**???** ….. is that you?" it was Cream, Tails felt his knees give way as he leaned on the door,, trying to hold his own weight, but to no avail, he landed on his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks as Cream rushed over to him, "Tails, it is you, it is you, what are you doing here" she said, helping him to his feet, Tails stood wobbly, what was going on, she had never greeted him like this bef-, unfortunately, he never got to finish that train of thought as Cream slapped him, right across the face, he stumbled backwards, but managed to stay on his feet, he looked at her, "What's going on here" his mind screamed as she slapped him again on the same cheek,

"How dare you" she near-screamed, her face livid, as Tails landed ungainly on the floor, gingerly touching his cheek, why did all this feel so … familiar, he looked at her, and could see tears in her eyes, as she paced in front of him until she came to a stop, she looked at him so fiercely that he edged away slightly, this was a side to Cream that he had _never_ seen before,

"Tails Prower, do you realize what you have put me through for that past 36 hours!" she asked indignantly, placing her hands on her hips, and looking very cross, Tails blinked, what was she talking abou-, then he remembered his journal, the pages he had tore out, what had he torn out, maybe they could explain this, then he realized that he had left his sodden journal in his ward, he sighed as Cream continued to rant,

"I mean, of all the things that could happen, first you develop another personality, then you beat-up three of my friends and then you just FORGET!, how could you Tails, really how could you, I thought … oh bother that, now what do you have to say for yourself Tails" she asked angrily, glaring at him, Tails was half-shocked and half-amazed, it took a lot to get Cream even angry, but this was different, he opened his mouth, then closed it again, before pening it again, his voice was soft and oddly calm,

"Cream …. I…I…I…I…I'm afraid I don't know what your talking about!" Tails said, trying to stop himself from trembling, as he desperately clutched at one Tails, stroking it, he always did it when he was nervous, Cream's face looked like a bomb about to explode, he could almost see the steam coming out her ears,

"How dare you" she fumed, "How dare you Tails, after everything that happened between us, everything" she said, blushing suddenly

Tails blinked, he could feel his head beginning to throb painfully, "Wh..Wh..What?" his lips said almost automatically as he suddenly clutched his head, a sharp pain ran up his spine to the base of his skull, he brain was on fire, as Cream expression changed, she look worried, she walked over to him and knelt down in front of him, she touched his forehead and Tails recoiled fearfully, this wasn't right, he shouldn't … shouldn't be with her, what would Vanilla say?, what would Sonic say?, what would everyone say?, as he felt himself getting hot, and it wasn't a result of his brain hurting, as the Rabbit gently crept closer, Tails backed away, until he found himself backed into a corner, his hands began desperately scrambling behind him, and the manipulative rabbit crept even closer, until she was right up against him, with mysterious glint in her eyes she pressed her lips to his seriously, Tails felt his legs go weak as she pressed herself to him, locked together, Cream removed her lips from his as she stared into his eyes, and he into hers, Tails was stunned, his body felt numb, as there was a coughing sound from behind them, they both jumped, turning around, Sonic stood in the open doorway, a disapproving look on his face, he gestured over his shoulder with his thumb,

"Someone to see you Cream" he said gruffly as he backed away, and the figure entered, bowing her head to get through the door,

"Cream? Tails?" she asked, looking from one to the other, a surprised look on her face, Tails and Cream looked at each other, scared, the one last person on the face of Mobius that they needed to see had just walked through the door.

It Was Vanilla…

((I know, this is a bit short, I did have a fight scene planned between Miles and Shadow, but I'll put that in later, anyhow's Vanilla has turned up and Tails and Cream relationship is on the line, and who was that mysterious fox, you'll just have to keep watching to find out))


	5. Dragged through Time

((Alright, by the time you have finished reading this you'll think I'm nuts/insane/mental and so on, my Imagination went absolutely crazy/nuts/insane, so let me warn you before hand, this chapter is even more insane then any other I have written before in my life, its about as stable as my current sanity, Yahoo! [Insert Evil Villain Laugh here]))

Cream and Tails backed away from each other as Vanilla entered the room, both blushing furiously, Vanilla looked at Cream, then at Tails, then back to Cream, she sighed, before walking over to Cream and taking her gently, firmly by the arm,

"You and I are going to have a talk _Miss Rabbit_" Vanilla said calmly, although there was a hint of steel in her voice as she dragged Cream out of the room, Tails watched her go, he felt so … so alone, as he heard Sonic say something about needing a run, Tails numbly got up and desperately tried to follow his blue friend, but he soon lost him in the maze of corridors, he sighed, he was lost again, Tails began to wander, randomly taking lefts and right, each one making him more and more and more lost, until he slumped against one of the wall, confused and exhausted, he gingerly touched the bandaged back of his head, and winced, so far, no one had told him how it had happened, but something told him it involved Cream, he sighed again, as he heard someone walking down the empty corridor, he pulled himself up, leaning on the wall for support as he saw Shadow calmly walking down the Corridor, Tails tried to back away, but Shadow grabbed him,

"I think You need to go home" he said coldly, Tails looked at him, confused, Shadow sighed to himself, it was going to be one of _those_ days again, "**Chaos Control**". The two of them glowed slightly, then vanished, in a blazing helix of light, leaving 3 doctor and 2 nurses needing therapy for hallucinations.

-

They reappeared just Outside of Tails house, Shadow left him on the doorstep with strict instructions to call anyone if he needed anything, then he vanished again, Tails sighed, typical Shadow, he punched in his house key-code and smiled grimly, at least he hadn't changed that much, and the door swung open, he felt a slight breeze as he entered, closing the door behind, almost immediately he went down into his workshop, it was bigger than he last remembered, but he must have made it bigger at some point, much bigger, Tails traced his hand along the rows of tools and little machines and doo-dah's, until strangely, his hand settled on one of his favourite spanners, it was the one that Chuck had gave to him before he left, as he lifted it off the wall, there was a strange _clunk_, and a small section of the wall slowly creaked open, revealing a long flight of spiral stairs, curious, Tails walked over, examining the door way, he had walked passed this part already, then he notice that it had been cleverly hinged on the inside, leaving no trace that it was there, he smiled, it seems that he was clever enough to outsmart even himself, as he cautiously made his way down the stair, it seemed to have been hewn out of the living granite bedrock, that explained how is Workshop looked bigger, it was, it was further down, he could her the sound of something sparking down below, he quickened his pace, when he got to the bottom, he found himself in a set of ruined corridors, as his feet clanged on the metal floor, it felt … familiar, he turned a corner, and found himself staring at a huge monitor and a set of ruin controls, they had been clawed and great gashes lay in the walls and buttons, the monitor itself was dirty and a scratch mark lay in the dead centre, Tails removed his glove as measured the claw marks against his own, they fit, perfectly, Tails stumbled backwards, horrified, suddenly realising where he was, this was his room in the Blue Typhoon, but if this was his room, and he did this, did … did this confirm what his journal had told him, he shook his head, tears beginning to form in his eye, no it couldn't be true, it just couldn't, he slammed a clawed fist down on the controls, momentarily re-connecting two broken strands of cable, almost immediately the monitor in front of him burst into life,

_Commencing uplink with M__ain Server …_

_**Uplink failed**__ … _

_Commencing uplink with Back-Up Server …_

_**Uplink failed**__ …_

_Connecting to alternative server…_

_Alternative Server responding__, Attempting Connection … _

_Connection found … __Commencing activation Holographic Display and Distress Beacon…_

Four small projectors emerged from corners of the screen, as 4 beams of light coalesced together, forming a figure, and in front of him stood, … stood a female Fox, she stood slightly taller than Tails, she had bright yellow fur that looked wind-swept and slightly blackened, her eyes were a light purple and even though it was a hologram, he could see the steel in her eyes, and a deep red stripe stretched across from beneath her right ear to the edge of her wrist, and her ears were elongated, almost rabbit-like, and they were tucked behind her head comfortably, she wore a kind of close-form black ballistic vest, that brought out some of her more … feminine features, she had black, polished leather boots and wore a pair of steel gauntlets, covered with dials and button and intricate little screens, her expression was a mixture of surprise and of restraint, she slammed a gauntleted hand on Tails shoulder, nearly knocking him over, which surprised him, this was only meant to be a hologram.

"You're coming with me" she said harshly, reaching with her other hand and turning one of the dials, before Tails even had time to object, they vanished, leaving a small burn mark lying on the floor of the room, no other evidence was left, as Tails felt himself falling, falling, falling, as stars and other sights spun past his eyes, Tails felt nauseous, and he could still feel a hand tightly clamped on his shoulder, then there was a light…..

-

Tails sat up, and immediately regretted it, as he found himself staring down the barrel of rifle, it was of a strange design, Tails blinked, before lightly pushing it out of his face, he looked up at the person holding it, it was the same girl who had brought him here, as she shouldered the rifle and held out a hand to help him up, Tails took it, he still felt a bit groggy, but his head soon cleared when he was on his feet, he looked around himself, he appeared to be in some kind of collapsed tunnel, a broken light above him glowed dimly, illuminating the smile on her face as helped him to his feet, she pressed a button on her gauntlet and then raised the hand to her ear,

"Ops. Centre … Sierra 215 [numbers pronounced separately] reporting in, The MP has been retrieved, I repeat, the MP has been retrieved"

"_Roger Sierra 215, We have your location, despatching an escort to pick you up_"

"Will-co Ops. Centre, Sierra 215, Romeo and Out"

She sighed slightly before sitting herself down on a large chunk of rock, she looked at Tails, almost as if she was measuring him, then she laughed, it was a simple, joyful, almost childish laugh,

"YOU!, You're what has had G.U.N shaking in their boots for 2 years now, well you don't look so tough" she laughed, before turning back to fiddling with something

Tails almost felt annoyed, who was this girl, and WHAT was she talking about, as if reading his though, her head snapped round, eyes blazing,

"Will you stop that" she said irritably, her once pale eyes, now a clear purple, Tails flinched, recoiling slightly, what was up with her, before he could take that though any further, a small red dot appeared in the centre of his chest,

"Bugger" he said aloud, causing the girl to turn her head, then she dived on him, knocking him to the ground, as a shower of bullets struck where Tails had been sitting moments before, Tails caught a glimpse of something mechanical in the corridor behind them, before he collided with the ground, moaning as more gunfire filled the small corridor, he franticly pulled himself behind the stone that he had been sitting a few moments ago, clamping his hands on his ears, as fear's icy hand grasped his heart, what would happen if he died? How would he get home?, at that point something exploded above them, sending down a huge wave of gravel and concrete chips, sending the pair of them crashing backwards, Tails squinted as a bright light suddenly flooded the area from above, the explosion must have collapsed the roof, he could hear the noise of a helicopter above him somewhere as he suddenly felt something bite him in the neck, he clasped his neck, then realised what it was, a dart, he could feel his muscles starting to go all weak and funny, he tried to say something, but his lips were just too tired to response, he sighed, as the world around dissolved into so many brightly coloured bubbles, he never even felt the ground rush up to meet him.

She looked at the sleeping figure on the ground, placing her dart-pistol back in its holster, as she watched soldiers began disembarking from the landed helicopter, it was a Chinook, "There absolutely no way that THIS guy is really him" she thought, as a dozen armed soldiers approached her, rifles held at the ready, she sighed, they really needed to get some more … realistic solders, this lot had seen to many movies, one of them, obviously the leader, came up to her,

"Ma'am, were awaiting your orders" he said, saluting crisply, she levelled her eyes at him, for taking a fleeting glance at the sleeping Kitsune,

"Bag him, then lets get out of here, before we get caught" she said briskly, hoping aboard the landed Chinook, she rapped the pilot on the shoulder,

"How long will it take to get back to Base?"

"ETA of about 20 - 25 minutes, if we don't run into anything faster than us"

"Good, don't hang around, the last thing we need is getting caught with this guy onboard"

She turned to go, but the pilot coughed slightly, she turned back

"Yes?" she asked

"Oh … errrr Ma'am, if you don't mind me asking ... but… is it true what the rumours say … about him I mean" the pilot asked nervously, gesturing to the unconscious Tails

"I don't know Private, but I can tell you one thing, sure as hell I'm going to find out" the determined little vixen said, exiting the cockpit, Tails had now been efficiently trussed up like a turkey and now sleeping peacefully on the hard floor, unaware of even the land giving way beneath him as the Chinook flew off into the night sky.

-

Tails felt sick, almost immediately after he had woken up he had felt sick, not just a normal tummy-ache, but sick at heart, like something was trying to drag him through every surface he touched, he looked around, he was trapped, in a room that was probably about as big as a large bathroom, there was a bed, a sink, a toilet and nothing much else, just the fact that everything seemed to be made of either concrete or metal, that and the fact that a nagging feeling told him he wasn't home anymore, he sighed, life just couldn't get any worse for him at the moment, what was going to happen next? Would he develop an alter-ego and go nuts? (lets not forget the fact that he doesn't remember)

He heard the door being unlocked, a long grating sound of metal rubbing against metal, followed by what he guess was a key of some kind, then the door opened, filling the small room with a chilled breeze, as 2 Solider entered the room, Rifles raised, fingers on triggers, it waasn't the fact that both rifles were pointed in his general direction, nor the fact that they were both very big and looked very dangerous that made Tails freeze up, but the fact that, judging by their build, and the fact that they were twice as tall as him, that they were … _Human_?

"That means … That means I'm on _**EARTH**_, it looks like I travelled through Space as well as Time" he had worked out the Time part on his own, he knew that the technology he had seen so far, and by the ruins of the building he had briefly seen before he had been drugged, that they were WAY ahead of the time, but he was on EARTH?

"Alright pal, come on lets move" one of he solider said, roughly pulling Tails up by the arm, Tails tried to stand, he really did, but his legs failed him, and he crumpled to the floor in an awkward kneeling position, breathing heavily, both soldiers looked at each other, then at him, before grabbing him under the arms and hauling him to his feet, Tails stood … just, he wobbled slightly as one of the soldiers pulled a pair of restrainers from somewhere on his belt and used them to tie Tails hands behind his back, then the pair of soldiers made him walk in front of them, rifles extended, Tails felt a slight pang of humiliation, he had come here somehow, defying everything he had ever been taught EVER, and he was being treated like a Prisoner of War???, something didn't add up, as Tails was frog-marched down the corridor, he took in the sights that were around him, Soldiers seemed to be everywhere, many of them were wounded in someway or another, some limping slightly or cradling broken limbs, others were bandaged tightly, Tails noted that his own bandage had been removed from his head and a fresh one had been applied, another thing he had noticed, was the fact that everyone seemed to look at him like he was … Evil?, so far, not one person had even given him a smile of some sort, there had been dirty looks, plenty of glares, and some had openly or privately jeered at him, something was DEFINATLY not right.

Soon the corridor began to get longer, and longer, until Tails lost count of how long they were, "This place must be MASSIVE" he thought to himself as the trio reached a pair of huge steel door. Guarded by yet more soldiers, and after a hurried whisper with one of the soldiers guarding the door, it opened, slowly and screeching like a cat, Tails notice vaguely that it was _at least_ a metre thick, "That's one serious door" he thought as they entered the room, Tails looked around, the room was filled with computers and screens and various mechanical things and several huge tables spread out with maps, all of it surrounding a huge 3-D display of what he assumed was Earth, he also noticed that there was something … different about the Earth, he couldn't quite think what it was, as they mounted the stairs, ails stared at the floor, mainly because everyone was staring at him like they had just seen a ghost, he sighed quietly to himself as the approached one of the large of the tables, clustered around it were mainly men and woman, clad in various styles and colour of Military uniform, most had worried or distracted expressions on their faces, and Tails noted that most of them were armed, not wise to start a fight with someone who could potentially hold gun against your face, very one-sided however there was one figure he did recognise, she was about half the size of everyone else, so the table appeared to have been mad low so that she could see, and he groaned quietly as one of the soldiers behind him coughed loudly.

"_Ahem_!"

The figure turned her head slightly, noticing the presence of the small group behind her,

"Ahhh … good work Corporal, I hope he hasn't been too much trouble" she asked, looking Tails up and down carefully,

"No Ma'am, he hasn't said a word" the Corporal said, before starting again, "although the response from the men wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows, we might have some trouble if this is going to be long term" he said in a pained voice, and winced as she raised an eyebrow questioningly

"Hmmmm… I think it's time we bring Mr. Prower here up to speed, you're dismissed Corporal, go and take some time off" she said with a brief smile, gesturing to Tails to come and stand with her, Tails watched as the soldiers saluted brief before departing, he looked at this girl, or should he say woman?, person?, it was like having an adult mind stuck inside a child's body, it made his skin crawl slightly, she almost complacently brushed a gauntleted hand across his face, they were cold, and Tails hated to think what would happen if he ended up in a fight with her, those would hurt, she looked at him, her head leaning slightly to one side,

"Yep, you're defiantly him" she said quietly, before grasping him roughly by the wrist and dragging him over to the table, and up a small flight of steps, so that the pair of them stood slightly higher than everyone else, overlooking the table, she glanced around her at the argureing men and women, sighed and then slammed gauntleted fists into the side of the podium, shaking it dangerously and leaving a large dent in the side of it that sparked slightly,

"RIGHT then people," she said in a voice that brooked no argument, glaring icily round the assorted faces, "IF we're quite finished, now if anyone wants to argue, they can do it with me … outside, understand!" there was no response, "Good … then we can get down to business, but befor3 we do that, I'd like to introduce our guest" she jabbed a thumb at Tails behind her, he cringed slightly before giving a small wave "uhhh …. Hi!" he said shyly, there was a collective, astonished gasp from not just the people surrounding the table, but everyone in the room, everyone stares and angry murmurs spread through the room, however she silence most of them, leaving another small crater in the side of the podium,

"Look People, this isn't the time for personal grudges or vendetta's so can we put them aside for the moment, we need him ALIVE … we've all lost friends, and he's not responsible … yet!" she clenched her fists, there was a sound of foil crumpling as the edge of the podium crumpled beneath her hands, "Understand!", there was no response again, she flicked a switch on her gauntlet and the hologram on the table in front of them zoomed out, from a city, to a planet, "Welcome to Earth, Mr. Prower, you have some explaining to do."

(Sorry it took so long, had some MAJOR writes block, next time, Tails get brought up to speed, and is presented with a BIG Problem, do review xx)


	6. History and a Revelation

((ok here we go, lets find out what happened))

"By Earth Years, the date was July 20th, 2508, it had been just over 500 years since we'd seen any Mobians of any kind, then suddenly, there was a bright light in the sky, unexplained, it made all the headline, it appears several Light-years away, Scientists described it as a 'Natural Phenomenon' and 'Safe', so ife Continued, that was until G.U.N Inter-Space Radar picked up a massive fleet of ships approaching, so naturally they scrambled every ship they had to meet the treat, we all thought that it was another Eggman, since his last visit, are technology has evolved to the point where its much better than Eggman's, so we all assumed we would win, we lost … badly, almost the Entire Primary and Reserve Defence Fleet was Destroyed, those that escaped are now either too crippled or badly damaged to be of use now, then about 3 weeks later, you appeared, a large force landed in the Congo, incinerating the entire forest if the descent and setting up a huge base, anyone and anything that came near the base was blasted, no communication was given, so at the time we reacted and launched a full scale Air and Land assault, Tanks, Robots, Missiles, the lot, and … somehow, you destroyed them all, just you, with your bare hands, nothing seemed to effect you at all, of course, the Attack was just a diverson, we sacrifice over a million soldiers, aircraft and tanks so that we could re-capture the Eclipse Cannon, when you had finished with the Army, the President, in desperation ordered them to fire, so they did, taking out most of Central and Northern Africa, and leaving nothing but Molten Slag and Burnt Earth for miles, and a 50ft Crater, but somehow, even now we're not sure, but you survived, but G.U.N declared that they had 'won', I'm told the parties lasted for days, or at least they did, then 2 days after firing, you re-appeared, looking perfectly find, not a scratch, on every monitor in the world, here's the recording" she said, pressing a button, the Hologram changes again, turning into a screen, in it stood tails, the Main Controls for the Eclipse Cannon behind him, he was dressed in an ornate form of Armor, black with a gold trim, (think Supreme King), he seemed to be admiring something off-screen, before turning his head and looking at the screen, his eyes were bloodshot,

"Ah… Mr. President and People of Earth, I can tell by your stunned silence that you all think I'm dead, you underestimated me, now the Shoe is on the other foot so to speak, I now have complete access to the Eclipse Cannon and unlike you, I have more than enough power to take out your planet" at this points, the screen split, revealing a chubby man wearing a black, pin-strpe suit with a red tie, he had grey hair and a humours look on his face,

"So, this is Miles Prowler, I've read history books on you, but tell m, how do plan on powering that old heap of junk, without the Chaos Emeralds, and with such a depleted Battery, you have no chance of even scratching us" he said in a very patronising and mocking tone, Tails expression grew angry, then he clamed staring back into the monitor,

"Why Mr. President with these" he said, revealing the Item he had been holding in his hand, it was a Chaos Emerald, slightly dull, but a chaos emerald,

"Not an Original Emerald of Course, but a fake one I created, I theorised that a single Fake would ruin the Eclipse Cannon, since is doesn't provide quite as much power on it's own compared to the Originals, However, what if I used 7 Fake's, that gives me just enough power for one blast, so Mr. President, this is your First and Last chance, Surrender and join my new Empire or Die in that rat hole of an Oval office, your Choice, Surrender or Die, _End Transmission_."

Tails felt numb, more numb than he had ever felt, ever … he was shaking and he leaned heavily on the side of the podium, the girl mercilessly continues, pushing another button, "And here we have the return video"

The Screen crackled before splitting again, "Miles, this is the President of United Countries Earth and head of the Guardian Units of Nations , we Surrender, I repeat we Surrender" he said, Tails expression didn't change, he looked at the screen, before turning to one of the people standing behind him,

"Prepare the Eclipse Cannon for firing" he said emotionlessly, the man behind him blinked, shocked,

"B… B… B… but sir, T… T… They've surrendered" he said, horrified,

"Yes I know, and now they will die, now prepare the cannon" he said, turning back to the screen and the pale faced expression, he flushed red,

"You can't do this to us, we've surrendered, DO YOU HEAR ME, WE SURRENDERED" he said, his face looking like a beetroot

"Yes, and now you will die, I am showing the people my Fist, now they will witness my strength, goodbye Mr. President" Tails said, his voice dripping with malice as he pushed the big red button, the Emeralds behind him glowed as their power was fed into the cannon, the Monitor became a hive of activity as the President was dragged away by his bodyguards, with Tails mocking voice in his ears, "Run, Run, Run as fast as you can … you won't escape"

The Hologram changed again revealing a sky-view of the State of Kansas, a huge column of Green energy slammed into the ground, it glowed slightly before exploding, a huge wave of Fire and Death spread, the Hologram zoomed out further as the Wave consumed People, building, planes, land , leaving a black was behind itself, finally it struck the sea, in a cloud of steam it stopped, leaving a massive black circle, rock, metal, flesh, bone, all reduced t a molten slag, and in the Centre was a huge crater almost 120ft deep, it glowed red with heat, the Hologram faded, and Tails felt tears on his cheeks, why would he do that!, what was the point, he looked at the girl, she looked right back, there was steel in those eyes, and something else, he looked around the room, everyone was looking at him, anger resonating like a wall of hatred, the girl spoke again,

"That was from 2 years ago, We are all that's left now, You, Me and several hundred Men and Women, all of whom would like to kill you right now, unfortunately that would upset the timeline, then we don't know what would happen, we have plenty of weapons and supplies, but very few ships, but we are willing and able, and we will fight to the death to defeat you … well the future you at any rate, so tell me Mr. Prower, are you with us" she said, a questioning note in her voice, Tails felt his legs collapse underneath him as he sank to the metal floor, stunned, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest … du duh, du duh, du duh,

"But why would I do that" he thought, "I'm not that Evil … am I, would I destroy an Entire country for my own personal gain? It makes no sense." Caught up in his own thoughts he didn't notice a sudden commotion, then a Klaxon sounded, a shrill alarm sounded, and a red light in the ceiling began flashing, Soldiers began ruing everywhere and Tails felt himself grabbed roughly by the back of his neck, and being lifted, he found himself eye-to-eye with the girl again,

"We don't have time for you personal moping, Look!" she said rotating her arm until Tails could see one of the monitors, it showed one of the outer corridors, there seemed to be some king of fight going on, with more and more soldiers firing at each other,

"We're under attack, you can mope later, now come on" she said, dropping him roughly and turned to walk down the podiums stairs, then the power went out, plunging the room into darkness, she swore, then the hologram projectors in front of her flickered, then blazing into life, a Figure stood there, dressed in the same Armor that Tails had seen on the Video … it was Tails,

"Well … Well … Well, it seems my beloved Daughter is still hiding in her hole, what a shame" the hologram said malevolently, running the back of it's hand across her face, "Tell me, did you honestly think you could oppose me for this long, oh … and what do we have here" it said, vanishing, before reappearing beside Tails, Tails stared half bewildered, half-frightened as he Stared into his Eys, the Eyes of a madman, "Oh … You brought me back from the past, how very … very clever of you, duplicating my own technology to Time-Travel, that must have taken a toll on your system my Dear, would you like me to fix you?" he asked,

"I've told you before, you're no father of mine, I disowned you and everything you stand for" the girl Said grinding her teeth,

"I resent that comment Daughter dear, but that won't matter for long, Goodbye" the hologram vanished and the lights re-ignited, Tails stared,

"Does he always address you like that" he asked tentatively, he watched a a light of recognition appeared in her eyes, she flicked a switch on her gauntlets, "Commander?, Sierra 215 here, we need to re-locate, we are about to get hit, Hard", she cut the transmission, Tails continues to stare,

"So … you're my-"

"Not now, later" she said in a voice that booked no argument, before grasping him by the arm and dragging him through one of the doors, she released him and helped him too his feet, then she walked off at a brisk pace, Tails followed, having to jog to keep up, they crossed about 3 corridors before they came to a hanger area, filled with the wreckage of ships, in the centre stood one complete vessel, a patchwork-mixture of various ships and aircrafts, she flicked another button and the ship burst into life, and the docking hatch lowered, the pair of them Clambered aboard, the ship seemed oddly familiar to Tails as he strapped himself into the Co-Pilot Chair, he watched the girl as she removed her helmet and tossed it among a jumble of bags, she fixed a small com-link to her ear before sitting down in the Pilot's seat, the pressed a button and the huge hanger doors opened, revealing a pale orange, evening sky, Tails felt the ship slowly lift of the hanger flew, before carefully floating out of the hanger doors, The Girl gunned the engine and they speed away into the evening sky as the battle raged on beneath them, she stayed low, avoiding both radar and the odd, stray laser bolt as the carefully made their way south, Tails felt sleep beginning to overcome him as he snuggled down in the chair, he yawned and the girl glanced at him,

"Get some rest" she said, he voice hard and emotionless, "We're going to be a while" Tails closed his eyes, his face felt slightly wet as he recalled everything that had happens, as weariness and sleep persevered, one question remained however, WHY?


	7. Siranzan

Tails awoke with a Yawn, he could hear the faint humming of the Engine somewhere beneath him and he sleepily glanced across at the pilot's seat, it was empty, for just a second, he almost panicked, then he realised that it must have some form of auto-pilot, he grinned at his own stupidity, before heaving himself off the chair, his limbs felt stiff from being stuck in the same position for ages, he gave another yawn and stretch, before leaving the Pilot's Cabin, the ship itself was rather small compared to some of the ones that Tails had built, containing only a few rooms and the Main Cabin, he tentatively explored the first room, it appeared to be some king of armoury, a rack of various size and shaped weapons ran along one side with a string of Explosives and Ammunition ran along the other wall, Tails didn't like weapons, so he didn't touch anything and left.

The second room appeared to be some kind of store room, various plastic containers and wooden crates stood neatly stacked in rows against either wall, then he came to the third room, the door lay partially ajar, and a pale blue light softly shone somewhere inside, Tails peaked round the edge of the door, and gasped, his eyes widening, the room seemed to be split roughly down the middle, the left side was a pale pink, a bed lay in the corner and a small bookshelf bolted to the wall was next to the bed, it was what he saw on the other side that shocked him, the entire wall was half covered in a bank of screens, showing various different vitals and other things, then there appears to be some sort of glass fronted Cryo-Tube, sleek and black in colour and measuring almost 2 meters, it was filled with a bale blue liquid that almost appeared to be water, the remainder of the room had a rack of tolls and varying bits and pieces of metal and microchips on it,

"Where's she gone" Tails thought, as a hissing noise started filling the room, at first it as quiet, then it grew louder, and louder until it was near deafening, Tails clutched at his ears, he had rather sensitive hearing and something of that pitch _really_ hurt, then the sound cut off, just like that, there was a screeching sound as the glass front of the Cryo-Tube slid up and off, Tails stood there, mouth gaping, Eyes bulging, shaking like a leaf in a gale, inside the Cryo-tube lay the girl, but she looked much, much different, almost all of her external Armor and clothing had been removed, leaving her clad in a small pink chemise, her gauntlets had also been removed, beneath the left lay a complicated network of cables, micro-chips and metal, roughly jammed into the shape of a hand, the cybernetics carried on right up to the shoulder, curving around the back of the neck, pluggind directly into the spine, a similar story for her Right Leg, the same technology, and her face looked completely different, almost entire left side was a mask of metal and electronics, the Technology curved around the top of her Left Eye and then curved back round to the chin, her fur was now a pale purple, she was a Cyborg, Tails continued looked, he carefully felt her chest, straying away from some of her more feminine features, her Right Lung and side were both cybernetics, as was her left hand and a large portion of her Right Ear, she looked a state, Tails gently, tentatively, felt the organic side of her face with his paws, the fur was purple and sleek, and slightly damp to the touch,

"What happened to you" he said softly to himself, at that point, her eyes snapped open, almost like flipping a switch, her left arm snapped up, breaking the cables that were attached to it, gripping Tails round the throat, choking him roughly, her purple eyes blazed angrily

"Do you often look at girls whilst there sleeping?" she asked, between gritted teeth, tossing Tails, as if he was a feather, into the opposite wall, she reached over and began violently yanking out the cables that were attached to her arms, legs and pine, as well as the back of her head, muscles, both mechanical and organic stood out on her back as she lifted herself out of the tube, Tails lay flat against the wall, half-stunned, half-petrified as she marched over to him, each footfall making a strange CLANG! on the metal floor, she pinned him to the wall with her right hand, leaving him just enough room to breath,

"Well?" she asked indignantly, her eyes boring into him like a drill, Tail Struggling both for air and for a reply tried to answer,

"Wha… Wha… Whaat are Yooou?" he asked between breaths, just when he felt he was going to lose consciousness, she released him, sending him crashing to the floor in a heap, Tails gulped down the now sweet tasting oxygen as she watched him, almost humorously, she sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands, when Tails looked at her again, he could see tears faintly behind those eyes,

"You wouldn't understand" she said, cradling her head with her hands, Tails blinked, then picked himself up and moved over to the bed and placed himself a reasonable distance from her on the bed, as near to the door as he could without being rude,

"I know enough to understand that you're related to me" he said, trying to sound sympathetic, her head snapped round, her eyes were tearful and her voice crackled sharply, as she picked herself of the bed and started ranting furiosuly

"Huh! I wish, some Prower I tuned out to be then, DNA and a name, that's all it is, and half of me is mechanical, does that count as DNA, or a name, No?, didn't think so!, all it is, is a brand, a curse, I'm stuck a half-Mobian, half-Machine FREAK!" her fists clenched and she slammed a hand onto the bed, there was a sharp SNAP! As something broke, that seemed to bring her to her senses, she sat back down on the bed and sighed, "You want to know my history, fine then, but you won't like what you hear", she picked herself back off the bed and stood in front of tails, her eyes shining.

"My name is … Siranzan Prower, (do note that the stress is on the **i** not the **r**, so don't say it Sir(like the knight Sir)-an-zan, more like Si-ir-an-zan), and I was crated with one purpose, to enforce the rule of my creator, I was created from a combination of his splicing his own DNA with some spare cybernetics as an experiment, I was raised onboard Space Colony ARK, had a a carer … I think, all I can remember is flowers, I was there for a year, I spent my childhood shooting at targets in combat practise and fighting combats droid, it was a tough childhood, one slip up, and I was dead, I learned to adapt, use my opponent strength against them, since many of the droids were bigger than me, I killed hundreds of them, easily, like tearing a sheet of paper, I was genetically modified to be completely loyal and to age rapidly, so in a year, I was physically about 14 and mentally double that, that when I took to the field, I was at first proud to fight, then … then I saw the horrors that were, both by others and … and myself committed, the destruction, the massacres, I was appalled, that you would stand for this, and let it happen and … to be it's instigator, you see I was also programmed to learn, to experience emotions, I was supposed to be the next Ultimate Lifeform,more powerful than Shadow ever was, that was my creators undoing, I learned, perhaps to much, I rebelled, I fought my programming, both mechanical and biological at every step I could, until, during one of my missions, I .. I broke free, just for a moment, and I tasted the sweetness of free-will and freedom … after that there was no stopping me, until eventually he had no control over me, so I stole this ship and joined the rebellion against my creator, we have fought many times, be it on the battle field, or in the barren depth of my mind, I never know when he will come next, sometimes, remnants of my original programming come back, and I … I do things I don't want to do … but he'll never take my freedom away again." She wiped away the tears that were freely streaming down her cheeks, she looked almost like a child, Tails thought as she walked over to him and bounced back onto the bed next to him, Tails looked at her, he had been terrified that something had happened between him and Cream, but now that was replaced with a mixture of both relief and regret, Siranzan looked at him questioningly

"I guess that … since you … well the future you … created my I guess that makes you … my _ Father_" she said in a small voice, Tails eyes widened as she flung herself on him, embracing him in a back-breaking hug, and just for a second, he saw past the cold-hearted, brutal solider and cyborg, and touched the small teenage girl underneath.

He nervously returned the embrace, and then, almost 100,000 miles away, in Space Colony ARK, Miles 'Tails' Prower, awoke with a start, he had been having these nightmares for some time now, and now they had stopped, almost like someone pulling the pug, he gazed around him at the familiar Earth below him, and grinned evilly, "Soon daughter dear, Soon" he thought as he snuggled himself back into bed, the shape next to him stirred, then went back to sleep, blissfully unaware of what had just happened.

((ok how was that, we find out a little bit more about yours truly, and a little spoiler is brought in, can you guess who that just was, I can, but I'm the one writing, so do Review, Thank You.))


	8. A Little Turmoil

((Yay!, I final got my Century in Views on this story, next chapter is here so lets see if we can get 120, oh and thanks to my evil, zombie-rabid Hamster, _Chico_, for deciding on a major cliff-hanger for the end of the this chapter))

The Embrace lasted for sometime, as Father and 'Daughter' were reconciled, Tails felt different, almost like he was ready to take on anything, he hadn't felt this psyched up in a long time, he released his 'daughter' and looked at her, there was tears in her eyes, and behind those, Tails could sense a much gentler and forthcoming person than the one who had brought him here. He smiled, as she wiped away her tears, then her face grew stony again,

"What am I going to do about you, the future you I mean" she asked flintily, Tails looked at her, then chuckled quietly,

"Oh you are _so_ related to me, always worrying about important things in the middle of a personal crisis." Tails said as he nervously scratched the back of his head, Siranzan picked herself up off the bed and moved back over to the table, she picked up her gauntlets, straining slightly under their weight,

"Well then whilst we think that over, would you mind giving me a hand with getting my Equipment back on?" she asked, then Tail realised at that point that she was still only wearing her Chemise, he blushed a deep crimson before carefully edging his way over to her, she tossed the Gauntlets to Tails, he caught them, then dropped them, they landed on the floor with a loud CRASH!, Tails clutched at his wrist,

"Those must weight _at least_ a ton" he thought as he tried to pick them up, straining heavily under their weight, Siranzan meanwhile had nonchalantly pulled of the Chemise and was busy strapping on her boots, it was a that point that Tails turned round, his eye bulged, and he dropped the Gauntlets, this time however, they landed with a sickening CRUNCH!, as one of them landed on his foot. He then proceeded to hop around, attempting to clutch both Foot and paw at the same time until he ended up in a pile on the floor and left Siranzan with a stitch in her side through all the laughing, she wiped away a small tear from the corner of her eye as she finished tying her boots and walked over to him,

"I haven't laughed that hard in ages" she said offering him a hand up, he accepted, trying to keep his eyes away from her more feminine features, she noticed his pained expression, then she sighed, "Oh don't be such a goose" she said, lightly punching him on the shoulder, then she walked back over to the table and picked up her jumpsuit, she zipped it up on slowly, then turned back round,

"Does that satisfy the demands for Modesty?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, Tails opened his eyes, then breathed a sigh of relief, firmly pushing most of the thoughts currently in his head straight towards the back of his mind, another time for thoughts like that, the jumpsuit was still slightly revealing, but it would have to do. Then he picked himself up and limped over to the table, it was strewn with various pieces of metal, chip-boards and clothing, each of them was intricately shaped, designed and woven, he looked at his daughter, then back at the table, then he gestured at the items on the table, making a circling motion with his finger,

"Is all of this…" he asked questioningly

"Me?, Yes" she replied, picking the right gauntlet of the floor and tossing it onto the table, one of the legs buckled slightly, then held, then she picked up the Left one and undid the straps, revealing a mass of circuitry and mechanics, her Mechanical arm slotted smoothly into the mass, then she re-did the straps, Tails watched, bug-eyed, as she smoothly, effortlessly flexed the mechanical fingers, as if the _ton_ gauntlets weighed about as much as aluminium Foil, she saw the look in his eyes again and smiled,

"You need to work out more" she said, a slightly flippant edge to her voice as she attached the other Gauntlet, then she seemed to reconsider, "Sorry about that, I'm just fed up with people staring at me" she said, as she strapped on a pair of knee-protectors, followed by a thin brown belt with a pair of small holsters on either side of the belt, she flexed herself, making sure that she was comfortable, then she marched out of the room, an amused smile playing on her lips, leaving a slightly weak-kneed and sore-pawed Tails, pondering just what on earth was going on, then he gave up and followed her out, it seemed that his 'daughter' was a more complicated person than he had originally thought.

Back in the 'Pilots Cabin, Siranzan cycled through the ships varying stats, just making sure everything was in-order, the last thing they needed was an engine failure, or worse, she shuddered, then relaxed, slowly swivelling the Pilot's chair in a small circle, sending her spiralling in a spin, then she stopped, lent forward and flicked a switch on one of the dash-boards,

"Computer, Play track 23" she asked as the music came on, it was Gabriella Climi, '_Sweet about Me_', she lent back again and slowly, peacefully hummed along, sometimes singing gently along with the song, lost in her own little world, she stayed that way for several minutes, just enjoying her pure, unbridled freedom, of both thought and movement, she found herself recalling memories that she had thought she had forgotten long, long ago, memories of her childhood, her time with … someone, she couldn't recall the face just a pair of gentle eyes, were they purple, no brown, no they were defiantly Blue, and that strange fragrance, then the memories vanished to be replaced with a void, a black space, filled with nothing, she looked around her, and felt a floor beneath her feet, as her eyes adjusted to the blackness, she noticed a figure, standing motionless, in the dark not far from her,

"Hello?" she called out, "is there anyone there?"

"Obviously" came the reply, the voice sounded high above, dripping with malevolence, for her second her eyes distanced themselves, then they regained focus and a single word spat from her lips, "You!"

"Precisely" came the reply, as the Darkness around her seemed to shimmer, the it began to swirl then in began to focus, all coalescing on a single point, forming a huge gale as they did so, until it formed a shapeless form, an evil laughter echoed inside the enclosed space as, piece-by-piece, it started to take shape, forming hands, feet, fingers, clothing … armor, until before her stood, the manifestation of Evil Incarnate, the one figure who she hated, and feared most, her Creator, her Mentor, her Guardian, her Nemesis … her Father.


	9. Mind Games and Pain

((sorry about the double post, my fault, anyhow's here the ACTUAL chapter, enjoy!))

Siranzan recoiled fearfully, she groped at he belt for her pistol, then stopped, and looked at her hands, they were … furry?, a hand flew to her face, feeling, exploring, it was organic, natural, normal, she was … herself, in front of her, the figure advance, Clank!, Clank!, the armoured boots clanked on the floor as he slowly, almost cautiously, walked towards her,

"Tut!, Tut!, Tut!, I'm sure I raised your better then that Siranzan" Tails said, stopping just short of her, he was taller than her, just, his blue eyes were icy and his hands were loosely crossed,

"_Raised!_" Siranzan spat, "You hardly _raised_ me at all, you left to fend for myself, you.., you.., you.., you……", her teeth clenched, words could not describe her hatred towards the figure standing in front of her, her fists clenched, then she attacked, brought her fist back, charged forward, and here fist met with a solid wall, experimentally, she threw another punch, same result, seething beyond imagination, she through a third punch, watching as the air in front of her Maker seemed to be almost reflective, forming a shining mirror shield, she looked at her own reflection,

"I look … Beautiful?" she thought, as the shield repulsed her, blowing her onto her knees, almost as if reading her mind, Tails replied

"Yes… you do, don't you" he said, walking over to her and gently caressing his hand across her cheek, "So like me, and so-" his hand curled into a fist, "-not!" he said, and struck, the uppercut contacted with the base of her jaw, sending her into the air, she felt herself becoming light-headed, as she felt gravity beginning to take hold again, as she hit the ground again, she felt the breath being knocked out of her with a sledgehammer, as she rasped for breath, the Father that she had come to hate appeared again, as she tried to rise, he moved like chain-lightning, and she found an armoured paw clasped round her throat like a vice,

"Tell me Daughter Dear!" Tails said, tightening his grip around her throat, as she struggled for breath, "What in that vile Cybernetics" he said clenching his other hand, "_allows_, _you, to, resist, ME!_" Each word being punctuated with a blow to the stomach, he dropped her contemptuously, watching her as she gasped for breath, "Every Machine, Every Robot, Every Solider I have and I have Created and I have Bred obeys my will" he brought his leg back, "_EVERY, SINGLE, ONE, EXCEPT, YOU!_" each word punctuated with a vicious kick, Siranzan grasped at her stomach, pain rocketed through her system, up her spine and into her brain, she was on fire, alight with pain, she groaned as Tails roughly grabbed her by the top of her head, "_WELL!_" he asked, when he received no reply, just a stone-faced look, "So be it" he said quietly, before throwing her, she flew, until she collided with … something? It was a crate, wooden and common-place, just like the millions all over the globe, she groaned as she landed on top of it, she heard something snap, most probably her arm, panicking, she rolled over, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of metal, considering the circumstances, her curiosity overrode her desire to flee, using her good arm, she tore the top off the box, and gasped, inside the box, lay a gauntlet, just like the one she had, she looked at it as she heard the familiar clanking of the armoured boots, she turned around as Tails appeared out of the Dark fog, scared, she grasped the gauntlet, and panicking, closed her eyes, and in desperation, silently whispered,

"Help Me!"

Tail approached, a n evil grin stretch to an incredible proportion across his face, "Goodbye, Daughter" her said, and brought his fist down, and stopped, out of now where, a gauntleted fist enveloped Tails hand, he screamed as the hand twisted viciously, breaking the wrist, and flipping the hateful fox away from Siranzan, she stared at her rescuer, it was … herself, the current her anyway, complete with cybernetics, boots and gauntlets, Siranzan looked at herself,

"Do I really look like that?" she thought as she picked herself up,

"Sister, I don't know how you did that, but Thank You,!"

"My pleasure, now how's about we kick this guy out of our head"

"After you", the two Siranzan's linked hands, one Mechanical, the other Organic, as they jumped, feet extended, Tails looked up, kneeling and clutching at his wrist, as his mind traced the course of the feet, his eyes widened,

"BUGGER!", was the last thing he said as both right feet contacted with his head, he vanished, as a huge concussion blast flung the Siranzan's away, sending up a huge cloud of darkness, The organic Siranzan looked at the Cybernetic One,

"Soooo… where exactly are we" she asked, gazing around her

"Inside your, or should I say our, head" the Mechanical one replied, flexing her wrists and stretching

"OoooKkk, my head, and how did _he_ get in here"

"How do you think, the same way he gets in everyone else, or at least, we're not everyone else, he may be able of fool the Girl, but he can't fool the machine"

"Doesn't make sense, but hey this is my mind, … so what are you doing here, other than saving my hide"

Her Mechanical self chuckled, sounding _very_ out of place "You did call, I'm you, at least the mechanical you at any rate, I'm the result of all of those brain training exercises and mental training, a shield you would call it, I'm the other you, the cybernetic half, I am Siranzan Prower, and your are Siranzan Prower, Yin and Yang, and all that other 'two-half' stuff, except we actually get along, your are the Yang and I am the Yin, but I don't want domination, I want peace, a life, lo-" then the Organic Siranzan interrupted

"So let me get this straight, I have another me inside my head?, with completely separate thoughts?, another personality?, but why do I look like this, this isn't me" the Mechanical Siranzan looked at her, then smiled grimly, "Think about it, you'll understand, if you need anything .. just holler" then she flicked at button on her gauntlet and … vanished. Siranzan sat down, contemplating, exhausted and clutching at her injured arm, then she heard a voice calling her, somewhere fare away, she tried to concentrate, "Sir?" (do note, same with the pronunciation, it's not Sir, like a knight, but s**I**r, stress the **I**!!), she tried to focus, and felt then floor beneath her slip away, she felt herself falling, falling, falling, then there was a light…

---

Siranzan opened her eyes, the light blazing in her eyes, she squinted as her eyes adjusted, and she saw the concerned face of her father, she tried to lunge at him, then realised that she had broken her arm, and she felt pain shoot up her arm, then she also realised that this was the loving father, the alternative, the one that she had brought forward, to help her and the rest of the human race survive, she relaxed, and she felt a trickle of blood slowly drying on her arm, she gingerly touched her face, she felt the cold touch of steel, her paw recoiled, had it all been a dream, no it couldn't have been, how else had she broken her arm, but if it hadn't been a dream … then what was it then, she felt a little drowsy, she tried to stand up, but found that she couldn't move her legs, she … she tried to speak, and all that came out was a hoarse chocking sound, Tails stared, he could see bruises beginning to form, a huge purple and black area covered her chest and stomach, really standing out against the pale purple fur, Tails stared for a second, trying to figure out what had just happened, then giving up, he support her as she tried to get off the chair, he supported her by supporting good arm, whilst the injured one lay useless at her side, slowly, painfully, they managed to get her into her bedroom, where she collapsed onto the bed, breathing shallowly, Tails dashed back into the pilots cabin, and began desperately rummaging until he found what he was looking form he had seen it earlier, but he hadn't been sure what it was until now, it was his old Tool Box,

"I wonder what this is doing here?" he said as he picked it up and went back to Siranzan's Room, he moved the table that had previously held her spare parts, cleared it, then plonked his Toolbox on it, he pulled it over to the bed, then he flipped back the catches, revealing a mass of tools, screwdrivers, drills, the works, Tails smiled, "At least I'm still old-fashioned" he thought as he rummaged until he pulled out an intricately shaped screwdriver, he pocketed it before moving back over to the bed, he picked up the injured arm, and ducked as a shower of sparks spurted out of a tear in the metal, Tails sighed as he pulled back the artificial fur that covered the arm, the wrist mechanism was almost completely destroyed, and a large gash ran most of the way up the arm, "This … is going to take awhile" Tails thought as he fished a pair of goggles out of the Toolbox, he strapped them on before returning to his patient, whistling quietly as another cascade of spark was flung from the arm, "Come on you damned piece of … ah, there we go" he flicked back a small panel, revealing a mass of shorn cables and tangled wires, and groaned, before pulling out a pair of tweezers, "I can't believe I could be so … complicatedly stupid" Tails muttered as he carefully, painstakingly separated the jumble into their varying different colours and lenghts, wiping away a bead of sweat, he pulled a small box of connectors, now for the hard part, is he connected these wrong, he might end up electrocuting her … or worse.

As Time wore on, Tails began feeling _really_ tired, he had finished on the arm, and the leg, he had had to rebuild most of the head cybernetics from scratch, or from what was left over, that had been the scary part, biology had never been his thing, so he strayed away from the brain for as long as he could, now he was working on her other arm, the finger mechanisms had been shoddily done, so Tails was having to rebuild them as well, he grunted as he pulled out yet another length of copper wire, "I can't believe I was- ever this- conservative, even with spare parts" he muttered viciously to himself as he wiped his hands with a rag, wiping away the grease and oil, then he heard a groan come from the bed, he turned around, Siranzan was sitting up shakily on the head, one metal hand clamped on her head, probing, feeling, her eyes widened, she stared at him, a mixture of emotion and resent seemed to flow from the look she was giving him,

"_WHAT – DID – YOU – DO – TO - ME!_" she said, her teeth clenched like a vice, Tails returned the look with one of complete calm, he was used to people getting annoyed at him when he tried to help by now,

"Just a few repairs" his said nonchalantly, placing his tools back in his box, he heard a CLUNK!,, behind him, and he turned around, only to receive a slap, well it was more like being hit with a cricket bat made of metal, Tails blacked-out immediately, he was out before he hit the floor, Siranzan looked at Tails, then realized what he had just done, then realised what she had just done, then searched her vocabulary for a word that would suit the occasion … she found it.

"_Bugger_"


	10. Flying and Fustration

Hello People, Siranzan here, I'm back with a vengeance, and this story is 3/4 finished, I know, it's short, but insane, and if you people View and Review enough, maybe I'll do a follow-up series, so do read on as I have now reach decade of chapters, so can I get a review for each chapter? cummon people don't disappoint!! or Chico will come Muhahahahahahahaha!

-----

Tails groaned slightly, his head was throbbing like a drum and he felt like he had been run-over by a steam-roller, or at least something as hard, he sat up and blinked against the bright lights, he could feel a large bruise beginning to form on his cheek..

As he picked himself up, his vision span slightly and he could taste the metallic scent blood in his mouth, he rubbed his jaw and grabbed about for something to support himself on.

He could hear the gentle humming of the engines and the faint beeping of …, then everything suddenly came flooding back, in a flash he bounded out of Siranzan's bedroom and into the cockpit. Siranzan was at the controls, although she was really just thinking, she swiveled the chair around to face him as he entered,

"So … you're awake … good were almost there" she swiveled the chair back, pause for a second just to flick a switch, before grasping the wheel.

---

Tails looked out of the glass in front of them, the sun was beginning to set again, turning the barren and arid wasteland a deep brown, almost black. Deep, thick clouds hung overhead like a smog, hills covered in a grey grass dotted the landscape.

"It this …"

"Yes" Siranzan replied, "fallout from the Eclipse Cannon, most of it deadly to normal humans, airborne it's even worse" she finished abruptly, as there was a sudden flash from outside followed by a rolling _boom!_, Tails jumped slightly and Siranzan gave him a flat stare

"Relax will you, it's just lightning, it's now like anything's going to-"

She had hardly finished speaking when there was a sudden bleeping noise from one of the monitors, swivelling the chair again, she dragged it down from on high and pushed a button on the edge. Immediately, the display in front of her lit up, a smile ghosted across her face as it vanished again.

"Good, we're almost there" then she motioned to the chair beside her,

"You might want to strap in, this could get ugly"

"Ugly, what do you meeeeeean-" at that point, Siranzan twisted the wheel and let the ship in a sharp, downwards arc, cork-screwing through the air, Tails felt his feet leave the floor as he grappled to hold to something, anything.

Siranzan gave a small whoop as she abruptly pulled the ship out of the drop, less than a meter from the ground. Dizzily Tails clutched a hand to his mouth, he felt just a little but sick, he was a good pilot and didn't mind a few stunts himself, but THAT was just insane. She glanced up at him momentarily, noting the expression on his face

"Oh don't be such a goose" she chided as the ship gave a sudden lurch, almost throwing Tails into the wind-screen, luckily he had managed to grab onto the chair before getting thrown as Siranzan gave another laugh.

Tails strapped himself in now, hopping that he wasn't going to be sick, he grabbed onto the arms of the chair until his knuckles began to whiten and he could feel his heart pumping, faster and faster.

The ship was now surrounded by a dense … fog, it was a rich grey and seemed to be clinging to the ship like cotton wool, Tails glanced out of the wind-screen, he could faintly see the outline of something in the fog, something big.

----------

There was the steady, _clank! … clank!_ of machinery, almost musical now, and the rhythmic humming of vast turbines churning, always churning as machines built more machines, what would have been defined as strange now synchronized reality.

Miles 'Tails' Prower had not changed, orange furred and blue eyed, he strode the length of the glass 'eye' that formed one of the pair, the view was spectacular, Earth had always looked beautiful from space, despite it's two … beauty spots. But they had been necessary, an example the first, the second a retaliation, a foolish one.

Tails gripped the fake emerald in his gloved hand, their power was … insufficient, it took 2 of them to even account for a faction of the power of a single Chaos Emerald.

With a quick flick of the wrist he tossed the emerald into the air, its colour was a pale mustard yellow, not even close to it's counter part, the yellow chaos emerald, who's yellow would out-strip it like the Ark compared to a Luger. Tails snatched the emerald out of the air with dexterity and reactions that defied his small frame, just inches before it his the floor.

Behind him, the sun rising behind the Earth revealed a small cavity, into which he now placed the fake emerald, as the light grew, more and more cavities were revealed, these however were full, how many were thee, a hundred?, possibly more.

Arranged almost in symmetry around a single door, its jet-black countenance dividing before him as he stepped towards it, motion sensors, the was a faint pulse of green light as it recognised his presence.

There was a sound of a door behind him, as a small voice behind him called out softly

"_Tails_?"

"_Coming_" Tails replied, turning away from the door as it shut, obscuring the green brilliance from view behind the black metal, it was time for some fun.

----------

Tails now had no doubt that his daughter had _defiantly_ inherited his flying genes, but had defiantly _not _inherited his ability to be able to focus on flying and talk at the same time, for long periods at any rate.

Hours of not talking really twisted Tails's tails, it was so tedious, when they had flown after the Meterax, there had always been someone to talk too, Chris or Knuckles, Cosmo or even at one point Cheese, being a pilot could be so lonely at time, or it had been for him at any rate.

Tails lay on a make-shift bed, basically two rather comfortable crates and a rough pillow comprised of a towel that for whatever reason was slightly damp. _Heaven!_ But much better then a cell, this was perhaps the first time he was actually going to sleep of his own accord, not because someone had decided to hit him with something of varying hardness. He was surprised that he still had a skull at all.

But the sleep was fraught with nightmare, there was fire, purple and black, that circled and wavered, like the fires of hell. Two figures enclosed beneath a dome of fire. The walls about them sparkled softly with gems and there was a viciousness of fury between the two, two sets of eyes pierced the gathering darkness, one set a Burning Blue, and the other … a Vicious Red.

Then the dream vanished, like a board wiped clean, and there was a voice, was it his … it was defiantly male, and it whispered softly in his ear, the situation seemed to familiar.

"_I'm sorry!_"

-----

Tail jolted awake, then flinched suddenly as a white light suddenly blinded him for an instant he shielded his eyes with a gloved hand, the light was dazzling.

Tails rubbed his eyes with both hands, had he been moved?, most probably, had they reached where they had been intending to go? … dumb question, so why had he not noticed, then Tails felt a faint throbbing sound on the back of his head and he groaned inwardly, it looked like she had knocked him out, or at least she had tried too, he had already fast asleep. (I know, the theme of Tails getting smacked over the head is a bit of a running gag)

"I had to be sure you know" a voice in the corner said, Tails turned his head as his eyes came back into focus, hocked up to the wall by a socket and multiple extension cords, Siranzan was plugged. There were at least a dozen various cables plugged into her, in various different locations, like a dozen lifelines.

Neither of them said anything as Tails sat up on the side of the bed, dangling his feet over the edge of the white bed, they were touched the floor, which was the first thing that surprised him. The second what that this place was throbbing slightly, he could feel the vibrations under his feet, in his fur, his hands, almost like a giant body.

As he opened his mouth to speak Siranzan interrupted him

"Hang on a sec."

There was a sudden _popping_ from behind her, a 4 different cables were extracted from her back and as she stretched, there was a whirling sound and another humming and the remain cables all retracted, and their respective housings slid back underneath flesh and fur, she flexed her fingers and arms, like a rippled, as supple as any gymnast, despite the mechanics, Tail marvelled at the genius of … well himself, slight sick and incredibly cruel … but still genius, despite the conservatism.

Siranzan caught his gaze, she curled the fingers of her left hand, 3 organic and two mechanical, into a small fist, before uncurling them, and restriping the familiar shining gauntlet onto it, obscuring the dyed fur and mechanics from view, then she did the same to the other fore-arm.

She stood up, carefully stretching off each of her legs, then her arms, the last thing she needed was to pull a muscle. Then she walked toward the door, gripping the handle carefully in her metallic hands, she turned back to Tails,

"Coming?"

----------

Miles Prower lay there. There was a subtle euphoria about being so high in space, the dark silk rustled next to him, in the darkest darkness, the figure next to him was palely outlined, although its voice was female, even if it was veiled heavily with sleep

"_What .. What is it?_"

"Nothing" Tails repeated, turning to one side, and plant a tender kiss upon her forehead, "Nothing you'd need worry about dear, your safe"

----------

Tails placed his head in his hands and sighed, the room they were now in was white and elongated, probably because at one point it had been a conference room for some figures of political power, now reduced to a Military Planning Room.

Figurines and heads of various people of previous eminence dotted the room, some overturned, others graffitied or broken into hundreds of small pieces.

Various military personnel in green uniforms dotted the room, some repairing, oil or reassembling weapons of all different shapes and sizes, other fixing machinery or gazing at the small screens that were attached to the walls.

But around the table in the centre, lay some of the most important men and woman, in the country at the moment, 3 Army Generals, 1 Marshal of the Royal Air Force, 1 General of the Air Force, and 5 other officers from varying other nations, 1 from China, 2 from Russia, and 1 dark-skinned man from what appeared to be, according to the flag on his uniform, South Africa.

The ten of them, with Siranzan standing on a stool were grouped around a map of South Africa, with a big black circle drawn in the middle. Although Siranzan was technically out-ranked by all of them, her input was still valued, she had worked and fought for both sides after all, which gave her a some-what unique view on things.

They were arguing, again, they had been at this for an hour, and it was all _really_ starting to get to Tails, despite the fact that he was almost at the other end of the table, and thus several meters away, it was still loud. The nattering, the haggling, the noise, the pitch, the volume, the fact the he had very little understanding of whatever gibberish half of them were saying, he was starting to reach cracking point.

"_It's good to see that we at least agree on something_" a voice faintly echoed in the back of his head, Tails blinked suddenly, distracted from his thoughts, he sat up and looked around.

"_Who are you_" he thought

"_Sum quod sum – I am what I am_" came the silent reply

"_What's that supposed to mean_"

There came a sigh, "_Let me show you_"

-----

There was a sudden pause … things seemed to slow … slow … slow … and then stop. Hands and mouths stopped in mid-word and mid-motion, words tailed off in mid-sentence. Soldiers paused, in the act of slotting another round into a magazine, or polishing a sparkling bolt, the air seemed to shimmer once, twice, a patch of snow among the rain.

Tails blinked again, confused,

"_Welcome … to my world!_" the voice said, as the air in front of him rippled once, like water, then out of the thin air, like a wraith … stepped himself?

-----

Miles is back, is it good or bad, wrong or right, black or orange, red or blue, or whatever, sorry this took so long, writers block and a lack of ideas, this Chap. Is a sort of filler and so will the next one, after that I can guarantee at least another three, maybe another 2 after that, but then I'll have finished the story, and I must admit that it is un-belivable Insane, Chico is currently eyeing me hungrily, I have to go before I lose something important, oh and don't forget to ReadxReview


	11. Unison

Tails blinked, as he observed what had just happened, who was this?, was this him? … or him?

Miles smiled, filled equally with both kindness and a sort of cold dread, he walked over to Tails and Tails backed away, slowly, it was as if something had taken over him, he … he wasn't in control of his own limbs, was this fear, or something else.

"_As I said before and will say again, I am what I am, the Yin of the Yang, what your were, might have become, and what could been, the some of your parts, given form_"

Tails was now _officially_ freaking out "W… what do you mean, who are you"

"_Let me show you_"

The Still of the room shimmered once, and then changed, an almost hypnotising effect, Miles approached him, and gently placed two fingers of either hand on his head.

"_And now I return what I took_" it was like a sudden flood of emotion, memories and feelings, the backlash caused Tails to recoil, clutching at his head as powers and emotions sparked through his brain like a fire, burning, incinerating, there was a sudden sharp pain in the back of his skull, and then .. he sat up, memory coming to him,

"_better?_" came the question, but Tails didn't answer, one gloved hand curled into a fist, and slammed into Miles's jaw, then tails grabbed by his front neck fur and slammed him into the wall. Now the eyes changed, Miles's eye were now a soft blue, but Tails's burned red, with anger, and pain,

"WHY?" came his response at last, his vice was thick, first with emotion, second with anger, lots and lots of anger, anger like he had never felt in his life. He intently, purposefully twisted the fur and flesh in his hands, slowly, painfully, torture, for a second, he delighted in, for once, having power over something, someone, instead of always being the weakest link.

"_I … I don't know_" came the reply, breathing was becoming hard, he could feel the fur on his neck beginning to snap, it was more painful one by one then all at once or in clumps, slowly, painful, strangling him

"_First … first for instinct, for hunger, for … the passion_" he gave a short gasp as he felt more fur beginning to part and sharp claws tears through the gloves and into his flesh,

"_Then … I couldn't stop it, you remember now don't you … what I am, Sadness, Remorse, Anger, Anguish, Love … all of them, negative, call me your negative. What I did was … not right. But .. but I have been shown how to put it right_" he started clawing desperately at the vice-like hands around his throat,

"_Don't you see Tails, we … we can stop this .. this future, put it right, and tey … they don't have to die, or to suffer, any of them, it can all stop!_"

It was as if someone had just lifted the veil from his sight, in the reflection of the Blue, Tails could see himself, and .. he was horrified, his hands trembled and he released Miles, who slid to the ground, clutching at his wounded throat. Tails blinked once, and their eyes returned t normal, Fading from vicious Red back to calm Blue and visa versa.

Miles straightened himself, his mottled black fur was beginning to change, he could feel it, the pattern imposed over it was changing, becoming more black, more solidified.

"_I'm … Sorry_"

"sorry" Tails said, in s small voice, "SORRY CAN'T UNDO WHAT YOU DID!"

This punch caught Miles on the point of his nose, knocking him to the ground, Tails leapt on top of him, repeatedly punching him in the face. Tails was enjoying it, the euphoria of power, it was their, his to control, the power over his life … and it sickened him, there was a strange sensation as the blue eyes flicked red again, then he stopped, realising just how close he was to the brink.

"Did the other me go through this?" he thought, the thought astounded him, then he stopped when he realised again, what he was doing, was this him, or Miles, or was there no difference.

Miles grinned beneath him, "Now you understand", he placed a hand of Tails shoulder as he began to glow, then he shattered into thousand of pixelated points of light, Tails froze, it felt like electricity running through every points of his body, empowering him, strengthening Will wit Knowledge and Power and Courage.

Tails closed his eyes as he felt new memories and feelings and understandings come to him, but they were familiar, almost as if they were returning home, to somewhere that they knew. When he opened them, there was something different about him, he could feel it, a confidence, a power, a force. Beside him he could see a faint spectre of Miles,

"_I am here, and I will be until this is finished_" his words had a sincere note of finality in them.

Tails watched as a faint wave of his own hand dissolved the reality that surrounded him, shattering it into thousand of segments of mirror, in one of those segments Tails caught a glimpse of his own reflection. He was changed, his fur was now a deep, dark orange, much, much darker, and his eyes, the left was its normal pale blue, and the other, burned red.

"_Now we are one and the same_"

-----

Siranzan was now officially frustrated, all of these Generals, representative of the worlds remaining armed forces, would never be able to get along. All of the politically corrupt, she could feel it, all of them wants to ensure their own safety above all of the others, their own survival. She guessed it was because they were human, forgetting the Greater Good and focusing on themselves, Self-preservation, not exactly one of the greatest evolutionary tools ever. Maybe that would be something to ask whoever designer humans, why make them so ….

Her train of thought was broken however, by a sudden voice from behind her

"Now then gentleman, I think that's quite enough of that"

She turned to find Tails walking down the table towards them, his face set, she blinked, his eyes … what happened, one of them, the right, burned wit ha red fire, it had changed … how?

All of them clustered around the table, blinked once, before they all erupted in a barrage of indignation, except for Siranzan, who had at that point wisely chose to withdraw to one side.

One of the Generals, Chinese by his face, raised his voice high above the other,

"By what right do you do this?"

Tails glared at him, feeling the same anger that he had only minutes ago

"By what right!" he paused as everyone in the room immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at him, "BY WHAT RIGHT was I dragged through time and space, by that same right, I now tell you, all of you to stop this, arguing over who will do what is POINTLESS. And for those of you who do understand for what I am saying, then I am sure you most positively agree with General Hokestra here" Tails said, indicating the South African "has a much better plan then any of the crap that has been coming out of the mouths of the rest of you for the past hours"

At this the Chinese general pulled out his pistol from his waist and aimed it shakily at Tails, as if he was unsure whether or not to pull the trigger

"You .. you have no right to do this, you did this, you are a criminal, a murderer, you have no say in this" he said in broken English, his face growing red with anger

Tails felt his eyes blaze "Oh … don't I!" His right hand bunched into a fist, suddenly the pistol in the generals hand crunched itself together, like a man would clump up a piece of paper, then it was dashed against the wall. Everyone backed off slightly at that point, slightly scared, everyone reaching for a weapon at that point.

Tails turned to face the rest of them, "I don't think that will be necessary gentleman" there was a sudden pulse, and the weapons in holsters began to shrivelled like leaves, before turning into a fine red powder, useless.

"Now that that issue has been sorted, we can get down to business" Tails could feel it, power, that had once belonged to Miles, belonged to him, Power he had been denied for so long, because he didn't want it, because he didn't have the want to act. But now, now he would act, he WOULD stop this from ever coming to pass.

"Now then gentleman, this is what is going to happen, and it will happen exactly as I tell you it will happen, there will be no deviation, no modifications and NO POLITICAL HOMECALLING otherwise you will be replaced, does everyone here understand" it was the first weapon in any arsenal, _Fear_, utilise the weakness of an opponent, all of these people, grown soft in offices whilst far away their men died for them and their countries, whilst they smoke cigarettes and drank wine. A sudden demotion was not something they wanted, so they would be more likely to kill themselves rather than to be demoted.

"Good, now this is the plan, it is now the jobs of all of you to get me and Siranzan aboard Space Colony ARK, I am the best chance that Earth has of stopping myself, I believe that was you plan in the first place General Hokestra, so you can take the credit, but he has a point, only I can stop myself … permanently" he clamped another hand into a fist,

"Now then lets get cracking shall we?" he motioned toward the door, as everyone pale-facedly began bustling around, desperate to be the first out of the door and away from him.

Siranzan was shaking now, she was scared … what had he become … he was acting so much like … himself, but what happened, his fur was darker, his eyes had changed and now his attitude, when she had first taken him had had been timid, scared, confused, but now he had … confidence, experience or something else.

She felt his eyes upon her, she swallowed, "and where would you have me … Father"

Tails paused, his ears twitching, he turned and watched as the spectral form of Miles separated from him and gently touched her cheek with an ethereal hand,

"_Siranzan_" was all he said before returning to Tails,

"You're with me Siranzan, we have some mechanics to do" Tails said, rubbing his hands together as Sirazan followed him out of the room toward the hanger,

"Now tell me, what kind of engine does that bucket-of-bolts we arrived here in, it really eneeds an upgrade or two"

-----

Why do these chapter seem to be getting smaller and smaller I don';t knwo, but the climax is approaching, and I'm half-way through it, and I am telling you it is fucked up, althoug i want another 2 chapters before by peice de resisteance is revealed, but it will make aboslutely no sense until you get right to the end, who knwos, there may even be sequal


	12. His Darkest Secret

Before you read the next chapter of my master piece, appreciate the fact that I didn't sleep last night finishing this, agonizing over every single loving detail, with that done …. ON WITH THE SHOW!

----

The Plan was good … after all why shouldn't it be, they had come up with it. The Strategy was flawless … something that had just come to them in a moment of Idle-Mindedness. The Timing was perfect … since they had worked out every detail between them, down to the last moment, there was just one small problem, Good Plans never survives contact with the Enemy, and that was then one thing nagging in the very back of their head ... could this all go wrong?

Getting up there had been the easy part, probably the easiest, the distraction had worked perfectly, drawing off most of the defences that would have normally been there, so they had managed to slip through the hole, a hand full of ships, slightly more soldiers, and two Kitsunes, probably their last hope.

Tails had seen it in their eyes, that resigned, desperate look of people who knew that if this didn't work, they were well and truly screwed, and in this game there was no pushing the re-set button.

Tails had never been comfortable with weapons, he was perfectly okay with Flying a Plane, or casual blasting the odd Meterax space ship into smithereens with the Sonic Power Cannon, but up close killing really had never been his thing, so he had retreated, deep within his own mind, a place which in a way was still … him, that innocent little Kitsune that had one day bumped into a Super-Sonic Hedgehog and things had pretty much gone on from there. But even here there was still a little darkness among the light, he knew what it was, and hoped he would never have to do it again, and yet … there was that strange detachment, that he would do anything to protect his daughter, it was a strange feeling, like protectiveness, he had felt this before, once? … once, when Shadow had-

Miles, or rather, Miles in control of Tails body, blinked as he felt the mechanical fingers on the hand holding his tighten slightly and the almost crushing grip made his hand begin throb with pain, although he didn't show it, she was nervous, maybe even scared, because god knows he was, for one he had to stop this, he had the power to act, and so he must … well the power wasn't _exactly_ his, but he wasn't giving away any secrets just yet.

"Dad? ….. I'm scared"

The voice was scarcely more then a whisper, if that, and the fear was there, and if the fingers had been biological, Miles was sure that they would have been shaking like a jelly. He half-turned his head to the right, glancing at her, the single red-eye now much more subdued and now even fatherly perhaps, and he gave her had a small squeeze in return as a rare smile played about the edges of his mouth.

"Between you and me" Miles whispered back, "I'm scared too"

Now it was Siranzan's turn to blink, and something told her that this _wasn't_ her father talking here, although she half-ignored it, and she returned the smile meekly as the light over in one corner began to flash red, 5 minutes, there was the sound as Men began anxiously checking magazines were fully loaded and Weapons were fully functional, those nervous moments, absent-mindedly she checking her own handgun, more out of habit then anything else. She had abandoned her customary rifle for something smaller, it gave her more room to move and didn't weigh her down as much, and it also meant that she could be more mobile, besides, she had enough weapon built into her as it was, so one less wouldn't hurt.

---

As I said, getting there has been the easy part, getting ONBOARD Space Colony ARK was another issue in its own. As Both already knew, the place had been built like a Fortress before all of the upgrades, but now it was almost impregnable, note I said _almost_ impregnable, there were a few weak spots, little cracks in the armor so to speak, and it was one of them they were about to exploit, after all, who expects someone to break into a Space Station through the Window?

There was a thundering CRASH!, which even though it had been muffled by them being inside of the ship, it was still thunderous. The sound of break glass smashing into pieces as it hit the floor continued for a few seconds as somewhere a klaxon began to sound long and loud, and all in that same moment, the Red light flashed Green, and helmets were quickly clamped over heads as the front of the ship jettisoned outwards, sending itself smashing into something and someone as it shot across the room, that was when the firing started.

Siranzan fired her pistol twice, seeing a figure on a balcony above fall down with a strangely desperate shriek, landing somewhere out of sight, without hesitating she coldly turned, the small blaster built into her left arm spitting out a small bolt of red energy, which sank into the stomach of another solider, who collapsed instantly, writhing in pain for less then a moment before dying. Then in one swift movement she plunged one cybernetic fist through the face of a Robot, crumpling the metal like foil, and at the same time sending the helpless machine slamming into a bank of computers, causing a small explosion as opposing currents of electricity met and ignited the robots fuel supply.

A Solider, one of their own, beside her dropped suddenly as something literally drenched him in bullets, leaving a very bloody mess in its wake which almost made her retch, however at that point she caught the sight of a single red dot on her combat armor and she flung her self into a sideward dive as whatever it was that had down one of her comrades annihilated the patch of floor she had been inhabiting moments before, with out even blinking another red bolt fired out into the darkness, as whatever it had been sparked before it exploded, trust _him_ to some up with something like that.

The remainder of the fight was short and bloody, for both sides, although they still managed to finish in time, there was very little they could do for the wounded or dead but leave them be, they simply didn't have time.

One problem that did crop up on the way out was a door, specifically a 6ft thick, armor-plated door that you expect in Fort Knox, not a Space Station. However it hadn't taken Siranzan long to hack the system, being half-machine really did have its advantages at times, but they had still lost precious time, from there they split up, Team 1, Lead by Siranzan, would head down toward the Power Generators, from there they could disable the power for almost the Entire Station, and from there, hopefully, the Eclipse Cannon, and Team 2, Lead by Tails, would head around to the other Eye, to take care of her Father. It was logically sound, cut of the Snake's Tail AND Head, then watch it bleed to death, Siranzan couldn't argue with that, the source of her Chagrin came from the fact that she wouldn't be able to take down her Father, something she had been waiting for so long to do, but maybe it was for the best that she didn't, she'd probably have ended up killing him instead … oh well, there was always casualties in a fight, and just because that one would have happened to have been completely ripped to shreds probably wouldn't have made too much of a difference.

---

They had come to a door, a big door, which Tails didn't quite remember being in the original plan of the ARK. It was thick, about 12 inches, enough force to keep anything short of a A-Bomb inside with even turning a hair, and probably weighed about as much as a dozen Elephants, if not more, and Miles didn't have the advantages of his daughter, he had something slightly better, its called the key … a.k.a his fist, which he calmly proceeded to slam into the dead centre of the door.

Now if a normal person, or Kitsune, would have done this, they would have most probably ended up in hospital with several broken fingers and a fractured arm, whoever the effect where was quite the opposite, the metal crumpled like foil, and the noise sounded like someone had just crashed a car into a wall as people covered their ears.

Gripping the metal with both hands, he lifted the entire door right off of its hinges, sending it crashing inwards with an almighty _CRASH! _as it struck the deck, sending up a massive cloud of dust.

There was a brief flicker as the dust cloud was filled with a dozen red lights, faint red lasers looking for movement, the was a sudden flickering in the dust and all of them focused on that movement, until it turned out to be nothing but a small gust of wind, then they separated again, where was he?

---

Siranzan pulled her head back as she felt something shoot through the open space where her head had been a few moments before, ricocheting off the wall in front of her, before bouncing off her armoured leg. They were pinned down now, and the enemy most certainly wasn't going to lay down and die on their own. She tossed aside the rifle she had been using and drew her side arm, flicking the power setting up to the max, there was now enough power in each shot to fry an Elephant with a single blast. She rounded the corner and squeezed the trigger for all it was worth, the result was spectacular, literally incinerating anything that got in it path, before the charge sank into the door and exploded, sending up a small cloud of smoke as the shattered remnants of the door clanged here and there down the corridor.

She allowed herself a small grin before she felt a massive blast of chilled air shot down the corridor, the generators were so close now, with no power all the ARK was nothing but a giant float weapon with no ammunition or means of propulsion, a useless peace of metal floating in space. Which was what they wanted, without the Eclipse Cannon, her Father was sitting on an empty throne, which she was about to rather unceremoniously kick out from underneath him.

She was still grinning when a hail of bullets smashed into the wall, chancing a view, the remaining soldiers weren't going down easily, flicking a button on her gauntlets she felt the smooth metal suddenly shift shape, becoming more flat and angular, the liquid metal flowed back along her fore-arm, revealing circuitry and wires, as it pooled in the air around her in two circular shields as she advanced, protecting her from the enemy fire. Bullets and lasers pinged off the two shields ineffectually as she quite literally strolled down the hall, completely protected, the shield dissolved, reforming back into her arms as she reached the barricade a the end of the hall, flattening herself against it, she waited until someone stood up behind it to fire, and grasped the end of his rifle and yanked him out over the barricade and sending him flying down the whole, where he collapsed unconscious.

Vaulting over, she smashed one arm through the chest of the closet solider, the look of surprise never leaving his face as she killed the second with a concentrated blast of energy from one gauntlet as she broke the neck of a third with flick of one wrist as she grabbed him around the throat, sending him flying into two of his colleges, killing one and breaking the arm of another, at that point, most of the resistance collapsed completely. She 'felt' the metal of the access pad, and after a few minutes probing, opened it, not much had changed since her last visit, but the Humans were astounded at the sheer size of it. The air crackled with energy, thick pylons and cables carried power to all parts of the station, a massive generator, similar to something out of the Death Star, except on a smaller scale, was situated behind a thick panel of glass that had been tinted to prevent the light from piercing it as white lightning flashed behind its protection.

Siranzan shuddered, so much power, out of the corner of her eye her systems were trying to tell her just how much power was there, and failing miserably, even a dozen supercomputers would struggle to determine just hw much energy was there, it was vast, that was the power of Chaos. Bank after bank of deserted terminals sat in silent rows, the staff who had been there either dead or fled, Siranzan cracked her knuckles as she plugged herself into the main terminal, time to stop the heart.

---

The chair was black in colour, almost like a throne, high backed, and up a short flight of steps, it made no noise as it swivelled around, it was oiled to perfection. In an instant the lasers all focussed on that one point.

"Oh you brought _company_ as well, well we can't have that then can we."

There was a sudden motion as the cloud of dust vanished, suddenly there was a massive surge of power, Miles/Tails shielded himself instantly, as for the soldiers, they were not so lucky, most were sent flying, to crash into the wall outside, some landed amid computer terminals, others smashed into the glass window which was the other eye of the ARK. There was another motion, and the massive door groaned and creaked upwards back into its former position, the metal twisting itself back into position until it was back in its place as if it had never broken, Miles/Tails stood, now alone, in a room with the one thing that was supposed to be him, and Miles/Tails felt just a little bit scared.

There was the sound of metal on metal as Tails stepped off his throne, black metal on shiny steel on each step, _clink_ .. _clink_ .. _clink_ .. _clink_. Each step sounded like a hammer blow, he reached the bottom with a _cluck!_

Miles/Tails looked up at himself, the black and gold enamelled helmet he had seen before over the hologram was gone, Tails looked almost like Tails normally had, although the differences were subtle, Tails had a notch in his right air, a past battle long forgotten, his face was lined heavily, and there was a faint grey patch beneath each eye, it looked almost pathetic, and Miles/Tails felt a small surge of hope, maybe-

"So you're here to stop me?"

The question was obvious, almost rhetorical, Miles/Tails couldn't look at himself, he just nodded, Tails's face split into a small, malicious grin.

"So be it!"

Then they clashed.

---

Siranzan felt the whole ARK lurch on its axis, everyone grabbed onto something as the ARK rocked from side to side, Siranzan swallowed, so it had begun, she shuddered at the thought of how much power it would take to shift the entire station even an inch, then she started working faster, her father was an expert in firewalls, but he had shown her everything he knew, so she was fairly confident she knew what she was doing.

---

Powers of unimaginable size and strength smashed into each other, forces both natural and supernatural collided, wrestling with each other, as the two Kitsunes laid into each other with gesture and motion, there was no sound, not a word spoken, nothing to betray the next attack, just the brief movement of the arm of hand or leg. Although Tails/Tails couldn't see, Miles could, this amount of power focused on a single individual should technically be impossible, he could see the thousands on minute cracks, time and space and reality each one a hairline crack, joining together like the tributaries of a river, focussing upon 1 person, all of that power in a single entity in Creation, should drive them insane, the structure of a living being isn't built to take that sort of power.

There was a lull in the fighting, crackling energies dissipating as their controls paused to gather much needed strength, both Tails and Miles/Tails were panting, breaths coming n ragged gasps, yet Miles/Tails still couldn't resist grinning.

"You do … realise that if … that if we continue … like this your going … going to kill us both" he breathed, leaning heavily on the wall, Tails nodded in agreement.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to stop"

"I didn't think you would"

Both opponents eyed each other up, looking for that single twitch that might foretell of a surprise attack as Tails spoke.

"While we recover, humour me, where did I get so strong"

Miles/Tails grinned again,

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you Tails"

Tails's eyes narrowed slightly "Ready to continue?"

"Yes" Miles/Tails agreed, and they clashed again.

---

To describe how Tails, the real Tails, was feeling would be almost impossible, it was like looking in a mirror, through someone else's eyes. He had relinquished control of his body to Miles since he didn't want to get in the way, now his part of his mind was free to wonder … why?

Why as in how, how as in when and when as in … why? He couldn't understand why he would have done all of that … stuff, there was no motive … no answer to the question, he was vaguely aware of the fight going on, but he put it out of his mind, for now he wanted to think, maybe if he could solve the answer to that problem then he might be able to stop anymore people from dying today.

---

Siranzan looked around her, the complexity of the computer system inside the ARK was undeniable, in her mind's eye should could see every piece of data in the entire station, however put it together must have been nothing short of genius, Tails had only improved what had already was there. She hit another Firewall and almost casually blasted it out of her way. They were getting stronger, so she must be close. She dived into another sea of files, flicking through each one so fast to the human eye it would be just a blur, nothing here either, so she erased them with a flick of one paw, continuing down the data stream.

There was a massive flood of information coming down from above, most of it video files, someone was obviously trying to back up the system, Detaching a virus from her virtual form, she smashed the virtual vial it was in, sending the program falling after the data, that should take care of that and she was about to continue when something caught her eye, the CCTV system, opening and closing the virtual door behind her she found herself in a room, filled with screens, each one of them a camera somewhere in the ARK. She surfed through them quickly, it was like being a God in a way, being able to see everything at once, she shuddered, so this was power, it _was_ intoxicating. She paused when she found the set she was looking for, she only caught a glimpse of the fight going on more then half a ship away from her before the camera exploded as it was unable to take the strain of the forces reacting around it. Siranzan's virtual and real brows furrowed, she had to get up there … but how?

Pulling something in the vague shape of a hand-grenade she tossed it into the room, and then closed the virtual door behind her as she left as the room behind her crashed in a flash of blue light and white numbers. Depressing a button on one of her gauntlets, she unplugged herself from the virtual world and brought herself back to reality, before she sank a fist into the central mainframe, ripping through the reinforced metal like it was foil, and tearing out a handful of cables. She opened a small grove inside of her left gauntlet and rammed the central power cable into it, as the gauntlets adapted to their new power supply, she flicked up a virtual number pad as she began inputting a very large amount of coordinates, she could feel the power in her left arm growing.

The Soldiers around her looked at her uneasily as she rammed home the last digit, she made a small motion with one hand, but it was clear, _hold out for as long as you can_. There was a sudden, intense flash of light, and the entire room dissolved around her.

"_I'm coming Dad_" she thought.

---

Both Tails and Miles/Tails had long run out of power to keep up the kinds of forces they had originally unleashed, so they fell back on older techniques, despite the limitations of Tails's body Miles found himself able to almost excel. The pair had now reached close-quarters, and it was hear where Miles excelled, after all you don't take down Sonic the Hedgehog without a fight.

Fists with enough strength to break bones smashed into super-resilient bodies and visa-versa, this was no longer an actual fight, more like a brawl between two drunkards, Fists and Feet and underhand tricks and counter lows all came into play, Tail's armor had still managed to stay intact, giving him a slight advantage of Miles/Tails, who was dressed lightly apart from a flak jacket. Miles had a long cut n his cheek from where an armoured claw had caught his face and Tails and 5 long claw scratches on his breast plate from where Miles/Tails claws had rent it open and both where drawing on vast recesses of inner strength to keep them going, all mortal forms of stamina gone.

That was when Siranzan arrived, although she would probably never use the teleporter again, the power had almost destroyed her left arm, it was almost useless now, nothing would respond, no teleporter meant no time travel, no time travel also meant no shields either, and no left arm meant she was crippled, she couldn't use the right gauntlet without her left arm. She clung onto the upper railing as she looked down upon the room, it was wrecked, the floor was torn up, shattered pieces of metal and plastic and glass was everywhere as the Kitsunes brawled, even from here she could tell them apart.

The two combatants separated again, and her vision telescoped, zooming in, she could see their wounds, black eyes, cuts, bruises, healing before her very eyes, it was more then two people fighting, it was a contest of endurance, who ran out of energy first.

As they closed again Tails didn't something Miles didn't expect, countering a vicious jab at his head, he smashed his feet into Miles/Tails chest, send him flying backwards, Miles felt himself hit something, felt it crumple, then it something much, much harder, he heard the bones in his right arm snap, then attempt to heal themselves.

He opened his eyes, everything was bathed in a strange green glow, he was leaning on something hard, no .. no metal hard, jewel hard, one paw touched cold hard gemstone, as his vision cleared he realised where he was. The room was circular, and the wall were decorated with dulled gemstones, but in the centre was a jewel like no other, it was massive, the size of a small car, and a solid lime green that pulsated with light, and there was only one gem in existence that could do that.

"Pretty isn't it" came a voice from ahead of his, Tails stepped through the hole in the wall, his face illuminated by the green glow.

"The Master Emerald is a jewel like none other is it not, not on Earth, or Mobius" he continued, a strange glint in his eye,

"And its also ver-"

At that point Miles blasted him backwards Tails's guard was down and had only had time to hastily erect a basic shield before the blast threw him out of the hole, and sent him flying backwards across the decking as Miles placed both hands upon the Master Emerald.

What he said then would be incomprehensible to any language, it was the most basic of level, the level of Souls and Gods and Demons, and the Great Gem answered, for the wrath of the Master Emerald is slow on acquire, but it had been building for 3 years not, and its power was mighty and angry as the tiny room filled with the whitest of lights. Tails was on his feet in a flash and made an attempt to stop Miles but it was too late.

---

"_Tails? …… Tails?_" the voice was familiar

Tails, the real Tails opened his eyes, although he was unsure when he had been asleep, the area was white, as white as white could be, accept for one other figure

"Yes Miles"

The Black-coloured Kitsune grinned at him as he offered Tails a hand up from he had been lying. Tails accepted it, and then recoiled suddenly … Miles was … solid?

Miles winked at him, "We're not in your head anymore Tails, this is reality"

The light faded, and Tails knew where he was, he also knew what to do

"Together?" Miles asked

This time it was Tails turn to grin

"Defiantly."

-

Too say that Tails was surprised to see himself would be to put it lightly, too say that he was surprised to fight himself would be an overestimation, he wanted to fight himself, he had taken everything, everything he had seen, heard, felt, and done, a buried, and now he unleashed several days worth of fury upon a self which he burned to destroy, the normally pacifistic Kitsune was now verging on psychotic.

The other Tails was now just a little bit afraid, there was a little doubt beginning to worm itself into his skull …… what win, he had been confident he could take himself down but this … now there was **2 **hims, and this one was fresh and he was nearing exhaustion, each blow now felt he had been hit by a car, his reflexes were slowing, his strength failing .. but he still ahd an ace up his sleeve.

-

Miles fund himself in just a little awe, and HE was supposed to be the violent side, however it was good to have a body of his own, he flexed his muscles, before he bent his will to the task at hand. Between one moment and the next he popped into existence behind his 'technically' niece, and enjoyed the view, Tails didn't need his help, he was doing well enough on his own.

Tails felt his arm being ripped off him in chunks, gauntlets shattering as they failed to take he strain, the breastplate crumpling through the force of a single blow, the greaves and boots disintegrating after a near miss. He felt the last remnants of black vanish as he was stripped bare under Tails's furious onslaught. A fist slammed into his chest as he felt the breath leave his body, he hit the deck, struggling to breathe and he felt a red laser-sight on his forehead, as he found Tails pointing his side-arm at him.

"Go on then, do it!" Tails spat at himself, and Tails almost did until he felt Miles's hand on his shoulder,

"That's enough Tails, he is going to pay for what he's done, but not in death" Miles said calmly, and Tails lowered the weapon slightly, BIG mistake. The other Tails made a sudden motion, bulling past himself he wrapped his paws around Miles's throat, snarling his eyes filled with hatred and anger and … but then he stopped.

There was the sound of a door opening, as all 4 head suddenly turned to face one of the door on the far side, next to Tails's throne, a few meters away.

"No" Miles heard the other Tails murmur, his fear and panic and … was that 'anguish' was evident and his grip on Miles's throat loosened a little "No, no, no, no, no, _**no**_"

Even though it was cast in shadows Tails almost knew who it was, and that knowledge nearly made him drop the gun. What had once been green as now clad in black and trimmed in gold, two black rose buds flittered gently in the chill and a single red gem was on her chest, one pale hand touched the metallic edge of the doo and brought her out into the light, her voice was filled with confusion, and in that same instant Miles saw the problem.

"T.T.T.?" the voice was filled with quavering panic, but its was defiantly, unmistakable

Cosmo.

--------

Chapter 12 is here, with a major ending, now I would like to clear up a few things, I am a MAJOR TailsxCosmo supporter, despite this being a TailsxCream, the reason for this is yet unknown, I think Cream is sort of a replacement comfort for Cosmo to Tails, but that's it, he feels attached to her … but isn't as infatuated for her as he was for Cosmo, but he does still have feelings. For her, just not as much, although that does make Tails just a little bit of a Git in my eyes … hey not everyone is perfect.

With that out of the way I can now commence with Operation: FINISH-THE-STORY, and to all of my loyal fans out there, those select few of you enjoy this and the next chapter and the 1 or two after that, and then enjoy the sequels and re-runs and spin-off, because as long as you READ and REVIEW then I'll keep writing.

Siranzan =)

P.S: lols, you all hate me now, so put away the torches and shotguns unless you don't want toto see the next chapter, but I guess I deserve it for putting in a cliff-hanger like that … I am a hypocrite, a pet hate of mine is major cliff-hangers, maybe I should take a leaf out of my own book.


	13. Homecoming and Retribution

Ladies and Gentleman, Madam's and Monsieur's, I give you the first penultimate chapter of my story, as the pathways join ever close together, as Reality closes in … well I wouldn't want to ruin the story, what you a re reading now is version …… 3.6 of this story … I have idled long hours attempting to finish it, and at last my Mona Lisa is completed, and I suppose your asking, 'How can I have more the 1 Penultimate' … then answer is … BECAUSE I CAN … now enjoy the show.

----------

Tails felt his hands trembling, so hard he was struggling to hold the gun, this was …… impossible, improbable, unlikely, ridiculous, stupid, crazy, insane, mad … weird … stupid … and SO many other words that filled his thoughts that he felt himself go light headed. He could feel his eyes watering, melancholy and nostalgia and hope flooded his system, but he was numb, he couldn't feel anything …. Anything at all, nothing, he felt out of place, strange, as if this was all a dream … out of his control, but the other Tails's voice broke through that barrier.

"Run Cosmo, Run"

Her expression changed from one of curiosity, to one of fear, she turned to flee, but founded a wall of light blocking her escape, not just hers, it hemmed the 4 of them in a giant dome of yellow light, unable to escape, and Tails still felt his hands shaking.

"_Do it Tails_"

Miles voice also broke that barrier, echoing inside his head and Tails's almost drop the gun in shock, his tone was mixed, there was coercion in there, but … was that pity … pity? coming from Miles … well that was a first

"I.I.I.I.I.I can't …." Tails said aloud, although it was barely more then an audiable, unable to keep the thoughts in his head, his head dropped slightly and he felt tears spring into his eyes "Not again … no, no, no, no … not again"

"_You HAVE to … look!_"

Miles's tone was imploring, perhaps eve … desperate. Tails flinched as his Vision shifted suddenly, everything turned dark, people outlined by silhouettes of fading grey, there was hundreds, correction, thousands of tiny white lines, like cracks in a shell, all of the pouring through his other self, all of it being focussed towards one being, the one standing in front of him, and it that instant, Tails too figured out the answer, as the momentary shared awareness at the same time answered his every question as the cracks in reality splinted a little more before his eye.

"You … you did it for her … didn't you?" he asked tentatively, he didn't want to hear the answer, he already knew it, but the expression on the other Tails face _made_ him, it was agony.

"Yes" he voice was almost a croak, then it grew.

"yes I killed, and murdered, and slaughtered billions for her, I broke the barriers of space and time for her, bent the laws of the meta-physical, fought with gods and demons and humans and aliens and machine and robot ALL FOR HER! I GAVE MY VERY FLESH AND LIFE AND SOUL FOR HER!!!"

Miles blinked, stared, then face-palmed,

"Of course, that's how, your not completely organic, your not yourself anymore, your not even completely alive"

The other Tail's shot him a look that was loaded with hatred,

"Yes" he said admitted gritted teeth.

It was like watching a persons skin decay in an instant, the orange fur and supposedly living flesh melted away, replaced by metal and gears and servos, in places you could see grey, dead flesh and the few whispers of pale hair. In a few seconds something that had been so vibrant and full of life seemed to decay, its face was more of a skull then a face, divided equally between machine and dead meat, a thin layer of greying skin and fur clinging to it lifelessly, but the eyes within its sockets were alive.

The body was in a similar fashion, skin and flesh and servos and mechanics criss-crossed and patchworked across a dying corpse, biology and science fused together in perfect synergy and synchronicity, it chest was an array of small lights. Something only a genius could have even considered and only a maniac could have attempted to conceive and something that should have never existed, a wretched existence. The … well … it had no designation, there was no word that could be used to describe it, even the attachment of what it had been was now gone … it was nameless, an 'IT' and nothing more, any trace of DNA gone from its systems .,.. it was just … meat. It looked at itself, observing the motions of metal in its arm as in clenched its fist, long dead synapses feeling nothing, but something still worked, some small part of the original self still worked, because those blue eyes were filled with tears, which dripped solemnly down its dead cheeks.

"I died … oh the agony and the pain and the force required to shatter Reality itself was too much for my weak, pathetic body to handle, it broke Me, mind, body and soul, It broke me … and the funny thing is … I knew … I knew what it would cost me to bring her back, and I hated myself for it, and I look back on it now … and it was all for nothing, all of that suffering and agony and excruciation, for the pleasure and pain of a dead child, Tails wanted her back … but I …. I got SO MUCH MORE!"

Cosmo looked horrified, Miles looked amused, Tails … its impossible to say how he was feeling, and Siranzan … well she was just freaked out, and a little crazy, she glanced at her purple furred self and a thought came into her mind, which unbiddenburst from her lips in a whisper. "But if he's … dead .. a machine … who … or what, am I a clone of?"

The mechanical Tails eyes were alight now,

"Don't you see … whatever you are … I can't do it, in fact I won't do it … and I know that, unlike you, he can't go through losing her again and neither can I" he started to laugh, a guttural, victorious sort of laugh that one could only imagine, never hear, but it suddenly degenerated into a rattling gurgling noise as Miles suddenly reversed the position, breaking the grip around his own throat and tightening his own paw around the mechanical voice-box, there was an odd, sparking sound as the metal began to crack under the strain as he lifted It into the air.

Miles caught Tails's eye, and sighed, "You're right … he can't"

There was a sudden tug, Tails felt as if someone had just dumped a massive bucket of cold water down his back, what happened next cannot be described by emotions, imagine being dragged through broken, red hot glass, and imagine to matter how much you writhe in pain and scream it never stops, an eternity seemed to pass in what was really only a moment or so, Tails eyes clamped shut in agony. Then it stopped, as sudden as it had been … and he felt … different, he felt heavier, more solidly build, his arms changed position, slightly a higher up on his body, he felt stronger to … and there was something in his hand, it was wrapped around cold metal, cold, not like the warm pistol he had held in his hand.

He opened his eyes, and looked into Its eyes …, something was different, he saw himself in the reflection and gasped, his hand suddenly spring open, letting It drop to the floor, he looked at his hands … his fur was black … no .. this wasn't HIS fur … no he looked like no … his eyes weren't blue … no … some how he was Miles … no … he was in Miles's body, but then … if he was here … then-

Tails looked at his body, its eye were closed, then they opened suddenly, and they glowed, the glowed that vermillion, crimson red, and It's eyes widened suddenly with comprehension and shock and fear.

"You can't … but I can"

At that point, Miles, in Tails body, pulled the trigger, once, and only once.

-----

It was like watching a video being slowed down up, Tails was unsure how, but he found himself back in his own body, throwing the gun to one side he dashed to Cosmo's side, taking her hand in his. Her eyes seemed to flicker open briefly.

"Tails … is that really you?" her voice was quiet, as he had always remembered

"Yes" Tails said, trying to hide the tears in his eyes, "Yes-"

He couldn't say her name … it was too painful, not again, but …. He had to

"C-C-Cosm-o … its really me"

She reached up with one, pale hand, and touched his cheek in a strange gesture, and her the edges of her mouth curved upwards in a small, wan smile.

"I'm glad, I wish-" but what it was she wished for Tails never found out, he felt her hand leave his face a fall back and the metal decking. He bowed his head slightly as he, gently, reached up and closed those blue eyes for the last time. Then he kissed her on the forehead. He stood up, and in the two steps in took him to cross the floor he had made up his mind, and he punched Miles in the jaw, enjoying the feeling as he watched him reel back in pain, wincing.

"I guess I deserved that"

Tails didn't say anything, he was trembling all over, shaking like a leaf as emtion flooded over him, but there was no tears, until he felt a hand on his shoulder he felt like killing himself all over again, whoever it was turned him around, and he felt metal paw dig into his shoulder as it twisted him around, but before he could catch sight of their face, they slapped him, right across the face, and Tails felt a line of pain explode on his cheek..

His vision clearing he saw purple fur, then it vanished again into blackness, THAT was when he got punched, a rather nice uppercut, catching him in the stomch, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying, knocking him on his back, he tried to rise but felt a mechanical boot slam itself on his chest, pressing down hard as someone leaned in low and whispered in his ear.

"Listen to me old man and listen good, either wake up, and smell, the shit, or I'll leave you here all on your own, you can bury your grief later, we have a job to do" Siranzan hauled him up roughly by the scruff of his neck, staring him in the eyes, but he couldn't meet them, Tails stared down at the decking as the formidable figure of his ''daughter. Shook him like a rag doll, roaring in his face.

"Understand!!!!!"

Tails nodded mutely, and Siranzan dropped him back on the ground, turning to Miles with a look of amusement on her face.

"Now what" she demanded, and Miles grinned at her, but it was cut short by a mechanical, agonistic coughing sound.

"_You're not leaving me HERE!_"

It dragged itself forward, mechanical hands forcing themselves to work, the legs had stopped responding long ago, Miles looked down at It mercilessly, his face was set in stone, judgement-incarnate.

"How long to you have left, She's gone, Reality is going to fix itself, and where does that leave you, you don't have enough soul or body left to even exist"

It gave another laugh, this one was more vicious, emotionless, the voice of someone with nothing to lose.

"No I don't, but what cannot survive … must therefore … _endure!_"

It gave a hacking cough as another light on its chest dimmed, Miles expression didn't change, he didn't even blink.

"And what cannot endure must therefore perish" he completed the verse

It gave another hacking cough as tow more lights extinguished themselves, there was only about a dozen or so left now, but is expression was triumphant.

"Oh but I'll endure, for as long you are alive I will endure, because I only have one purpose now" his voice fell to a deathly whisper as another light flickered out.

"_to kill you!_"

Miles expression still didn't change, but for a second e seemed to glow slightly, then his expression became, if it were possible, even more set.

"So be it!"

There was a flicker, and then Miles and It vanished, leaving Siranzan and Tails all alone. There was no sound, the space around the was trashed, and the view of the earth was beautiful … but Tails couldn't see that, the same grief that had crushed him into the ground now threatened to put him six foot under had returned and was crushing him down but-

His thoughts were cut short by a sudden, sharp pain in his shoulder, he suddenly felt very tired, yes …. He would sleep first then he could- then it hit him, as one paw touched his shoulder and found metal and plastic.

"Siranzan … you-" was about all he had time for before he toppled forward and hit the ground. Without a sound, but with a small smile on her lips, Siranzan pocketed the syringe and started attempting to fix her arm, at least now she didn't have to watch him mope and whinge and be depressed where ever he went, and he wasn't going anywhere for a while.

-----

Tails wouldn't remember much of those fleeting hours after what happened, nor would he remember any of the dreams he had in that induced unconsciousness, nor did he remember being taken through Time and Space and Reality, home. But he did feel it, a gentle tugging on his consciousness, but then it vanished, he curled up slightly, and relaxed, for some reason there was no grief here in his heart, only happiness.

-

Tails awoke with a start, he opened his eyes and it took him a moment to realise just where he was, the familiar roof beams told him he was in his living room, he sat up, he felt dizzy, he had been lying on the sofa, he looked at the clock, he had only been asleep a few hours … had it all been a dream.

He sat himself up properly as his vision focussed on one particular thing, the person sitting in an armchair, he looked like him, with black fur, his red eyes were closed as if asleep, and he had a red mark on his jaw … who was he? … but then it all came back to Tails, and Miles spoke, without looking at him, his eyes still closed.

"Nice job"

"I guess"

There was a pause

"What now?"

"That's a good question … I don't know, you can go back to living a normal life if you want"

Tails snorted "Normal?, since when has my life ever been normal"

"Point taken"

"and what about Siranzan"

"What about me" came a voice in his ear, Tails jumped a foot in the air at the sound, now on his feet he turned around to find her standing behind her, leaning on the edge, she vaulted over the back of the sofa and landed beside him as he sat back down again.

"Yes black-face, what about me! What is dark old you going to do about purple old me"

Miles looked at her for a few moments, before he stood up, … there was a pause … as if he was waiting for something … then, on instinct, Siranzan stood up, it was like he was calling her, she tentatively walked over to him, standing before him like a small child against a god, Miles grinned at her solemnly, then she closed her eyes as he gently placed both hands on her shoulders and gripped, and pulled.

For Siranzan it felt very odd, it was like …. being cut in half, yet staying together, there was a faint yellow glow to her as she felt herself divide, every atom of her being separate and contract in the same instant. She felt strange, weird, then she felt the hand on her right shoulder stop moving … and she couldn't feel anything on her other shoulder at all … had he pulled it off. She opened her eyes and stopped and stared. Standing across from her was … her, or at least her as she has always knew herself to look, purple, with mechanics and cybernetics, then she looked down at herself, and nearly fainted, her fur was no longer that artificial purple, but a bright creamy yellow, her eyes were still purple and she touched her cheek … she had … fur, proper living fur, not dyed that weird purple due to the chemical agents … really living …. Fur!.

Wait … touched, she looked at her hands, no gauntlets, her hands ran over the places all her life that had been different, head, chest, face, leg, arm, lung, ear, all gone. Her eyes widened, her heart … her ACTUAL heart thumped in her chest as she felt emotion … yes emtion … build up in her chest, then she broke down and cried. The Other Siranzan looked at Miles with a slightly odd look in her eyes,

"What about me then? Do I go too?" she asked, and Miles gave her a small smile

"Well …. it would be unfair of me to leave Tails with two of you" somewhere in the background Tails gave a snort of laughter, which earned him a pair of glares. Miles expression was thoughtful, but then it brightened into a cheery little grin-cum-smile as he held his arms wide.

"So how would you like to come with me?" he offered, and the Other Siranzan's eyes widened, the magnitude of that offer … was immense, then she smiled, and, this time with tears in her eys aw well, she inclinded her head

"Shall we go then" Miles said, offering her his arm, she took it, and they turned to their counterparts,

"Look after her Tails" Miles said, "She's been a solider once, don't let it happen again"

"And if you need anything Sister you just give me a shout" The Other Siranzan said as the two embraced, Siranzan rand a hand of the gauntlets,

"Look after those, they've got me out of a lot of jams over the years"

"Don't you worry about it sister"

There was a pause … everything seemed to stop, the breeze, the ticking of the clock, it was like there was nothing but everything but-, by then they were gone, leaving a substantial burn mark on the floor, Tails expression was one of sheer weirdness, he turned to Siranzan, finding his voice.

"How am I going to explain you to everyone"

Siranzan didn't say anything she just smiled.

"Oh I think things will straighten themselves out, look!" she pointed to her feet as a faint aura began to very slowly drift up her body, enveloping her little by little in that strange light.

"W-What, your going to?" he asked indignantly, and perhaps … was he upset … he didn't want to lose her as well … WAIT! .. he DIDN'T want to lose her?

She took a step towards him, then embraced him in a back-breaking embrace.

"Of course not Dad, remember how old I am?" she asked and Tails looked at her confused, she sighed,

"I'm 3 and a half Earth years, figure it out, I shouldn't exist … I'm too young"

"But-"

She cut off his objections with a finger to his lips, she gave a mischievous grin, then winked.

"I'll see you in about 8 and a half months" she said, then she changed, her yellowed fur became hundreds of thousands of flickering balls of light, each one minute and tiny, there was a massive flash as they dissolved, dilating out of formation and floating still in the air, then with some new sense of purpose they seemed to hover around for a few moments before they streamed out of the window, Tails brushed something which looked suspiciously like a tear from his cheek, but tried to convince himself that it wasn't .. .after all … she had acted like a COMPLETE bitch!

Tails slumped down on the sofa again as time resumed its normal pace, for the third time he was unsure of what to do, to say, to feel, but …. Something was different about him … he felt … older? … more responsible? … or maybe … just maybe … it was ….. happy?

Suddenly there was a _Knock-Knock_ sound on the door, the noise of someone … at his door, he stood up immediately, well he wasn't surprised … how long had he been gone for … a year? … two years? … as he walked across the room he glanced at the calendar … and nearly tripped over the door mat.

It was the same day …. HE HADN'T EVEN BEEN GONE A DAY

"Just a minute" he shouted at the door as he sprinted into the kitchen and looked at the clock …. Then he slapped himself in the face.

1 hour … he had been gone … 1 FRICKING HOUR! … well at least he hadn't missed anything important … but that meant, his mind did a back-flip as it tried to assimilate HOW ON EARTH had all of that happened in such a short space of time, feeling a little better he walked back to the door and peeked through the spy hole to see who it was.

And felt his heart, stomach and probably liver as well, drop out of his chest. Falling down, down, down into oblivion, he immediately tore his eye from the hole, bracing himself against the door as he felt his legs give way beneath him, and also to stop the door getting kicked in.

Standing on his doorstep, with the look of the utmost fury on her face, tapping one foot on the _Welcome_ mat impatiently, her sleeves rolled up like a boxer, was Vanilla the Rabbit, and beside her, her very nervous looking, pale-faced, and now undeniably attractive, daughter, Cream.

----

Reviews ... would be useful ... although we're not quite finished yet ... tune in next time to see IF Vanilla wrings Tails neck or not ... why? ... well it should be obvious by now .. if it isn't .. wait and found out.


	14. Conincidence' and Confession

(YES … I am still here, unfortunately my Muse has however escaped me … up until now, and even as this tale doth draw to a close, I find I have Mr. Muse firmly locked away in his cage, but enough about him, now let us begin, what I must admit, is probably going to be yet another long rollercoaster of emotion)

"Are you sure about this?"

"Me?, Yes … definitely! Why do you ask?"

"Because … because it … it just doesn't _seem_-, it doesn't _feel_ right"

"or…."

"I don't know"

"Mmm hmm"

There were many packed streets like this one, spread across a planet, spread across a galaxy, spread across a cosmos, but this one was special. 'Now Why?' you immediately ask yourself, is this street special? Has something happened here? Was someone great or famous born or died here? Did some great event with spawned countless others occur here? … well then if you have al ready consider all of those accounts and settled on a definite then you should discard it. For it was not something great, or terrible, or monumental in the grand scheme of Life and Death and Continuity, just an … occurrence so to speak, the meeting of two and one and many in a crowded place.

To be more specific, this was the planet Mobius, in the year 2055, now as we all know, 50 years can build a city, a world, a cosmos a life as well as they can rip it apart. However these 50 years were special indeed, things had advanced, technologically, philosophically and historically, for both the better and the detrimental. Metropolis now replaced what had once been green fields and groves of trees, Houses and Schools in their masses weighed up against Workshops and Malls and the foundations of new Houses.

"Isn't this a Paradox?"

"Technically … no, different dimension, the you as _you_ know doesn't exist so it doesn't defy intuition, just feels weird"

"It still doesn't feel right"

"That's because … well think of it as something like incest"

"_Incest_?"

"Yes, your body is naturally repelled by this dimension's version of you, since two you's are not supposed to exist on the same plane of existence"

"But what about-"

"That was an exception, a split-personality I gave two corporeal forms"

"So … we're still one?"

"In a way"

"But if we're still one … what happens if _I_, or she, dies?"

There was a pause

"I don't know … try not to die then so we don't have to find out"

The crowd around them was mixed, some Human, some Mobian, but predominantly Mobian, a sea of fur and feathers and paws and claws and chatter. It was a Sunday, so everyone would be out shopping for the coming week, others would be working the extra time for the pay, and yet more would just have come out to see what was new and to meet up with friends.

But two beings were not there for any of those purposes, the crowd seems to melt out of their way, bending around them in silent, unknowing acknowledgement of their existence, a simple trick of the mind, they would have stood out immediately otherwise. One of them was black, head to foot, the only area of his body that were not black was a circular area on his chest, and the peaks of his tails, which were white, and his eyes, his eyes were crimson red. The other was roughly the same height as him, purple furred in places, in others metal obscured and replaced the flesh itself, the work of a twisted genius, her eyes were purple two, and her eyes were slightly more elongated then the others, a symbol of some cross-breeding somewhere in her heritage … or a sign that someone had serious fucked around with her DNA.

"Remind me why we're here again?"

"Don't you want to find out?"

"Find out what?"

The Black figure suddenly turned into a shop, immediately recognisable as a bookshop because … well because of all the books of course, but that wasn't what took his Purple companion by surprise, not the sheer amount of books, or the amount of trees her mind would immediately calculate had been destroyed to create them, or the sum total of the number of words in them, but the sign which hung from the ceiling.

"Your kidding me"

"No"

The Purple One rounded on the black one, her face contorted in curiosity, anguish and a small amount of anger.

"Just which dimension _EXACTLY_ are we in?"

The Black One's face grew slightly smug

"Dimension 34.21937293727 Ω128 ∑B"

"Which _means_?!"

"Basically? … it's the dimension where _you_" the Black One said, poking her in the chest "were never born … born? … created? … whatever the verb, basically you never existed, and never will" he concluded, grinning a little before looking at the sign himself.

The Sign read, in literate gold letters emblazoned on a pale, sky blue background:

Today only, Siranzan Prower signs copies of her long awaited autobiography

Complete with extracts from her Father, Tails's own Journal

Buy One and get the Other absolutely free

_Terms and Conditions apply_

His Purple Companion stared at him with what appeared to be wanting a vehement reason to punch him round the face, he winked at her.

"Come on … don't tell me you DON'T want to find out"

His companion was, for the first time in her life, at a loss for word

"But … But … But-"

"No things won't be different"

"Then Ho-"

"Not sure … Time is a complex thing, small things can have big effects, but generally, _GENERALLY_, most major and minor events normally stay them, unless the changed event, or subsequent events would change that event(s)"

She shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts, one of her fists clenching on reflex.

"Okay, okay, I ask for an explanation, not a lecture on Physics"

"But that's what Time Travel is"

"But THIS ISN'T Time Travel"

"Fine, Inter-Parallel-Dimensional Spatial Oscillational Transportation, but there almost the same thing"

"ALMOST"

"Well … the only real difference is-"

At this point, she did hit him, and before you jump to conclusions, in the shoulder, rather then the face, he made a small face as the slight bruise faded almost instantly.

"That hurt!"

"Well I'll tell you what, how about _you_ stop lecturing me, and _I'll_ stop hitting you, Deal?" she said, holding out her hand

The Black one looked at it, then winked at her

"In your dreams"

"Wouldn't have it any other way"

The bookshop was quiet, almost empty, despite the Sunday rush outside, there were a small amount of beings inside, most of them Mobian, since the humans couldn't bear having to reach _down_ to pick books off the shelves, but there were some who were welcome to having small bookshelves.

The stall had been set up in a corner, tactically you could call it the rooms 'Power Position', from there you could directly see anyone who entered, yet be enough out of the way so that a little incentive was required to find its location, which meant that only people who actually want to buy or look would be able to find it.

"So we're here … to buy _BOOKS_?"

"Yes?"

"WHY!?"

"Like I said Sír, don't you want to know what happened?"

"Happened? … what do you mean _happened_?"

"The Wedding of course"

_Then_ the penny dropped

"Wedding? .. whose?"

The Black one said nothing, just grinned and began walking towards the stall, with his purple compatriot storming behind him, as he half-lectured, half-explained to her as they went.

"Well you know what Tails is like, well, in this Dimension, Tails is his OFFICIAL name and Miles is a nickname, but where _you_ come from, he sort of let the 'Miles' fall into disuse, especially after his Identity Crisis, of course, he still had that Crisis here, except you didn't drag him through Time and Space …

"What happened then?"

"I did"

"You did WHAT!"

"I had to, like I said, MAJOR events stay the same, that part of his life is considered MAJOR, and I really didn't want to have ANOTHER Siranzan on my hands, so I cheated, and that was before his unfortunate disappearance .. I still ahven;t worked that out yet"

"You bastard"

"Yes I am, I don't know who my Father is"

The Purple one, said nothing, just severely resisted the urge to punch him again, this time in the jaw, right across the jaw she'd hit him, just to make sure it hurt, and to shut his lecture up, but the Black one seemed to be immune to the ominous feeling as he continued lecturing calmly.

"Of course certain things happened after that, then I brought him back and then he-" The Black One paused, and winked at Siranzan "Well I wouldn't want to spoil it for you, but the difference between this Dimension and yours is very slight, so most of the facts should be more or less the same"

Leaving his companion fuming like a burning house, the Black one stepped to one side a slide a copy of the bound book from the shelf, placing it under his arm her stepped into the line, comprised of one person other them himself, a chipmunk wearing a red hoodie with the hood down behind his head, who picked up his book and left, and the black one caught a glimpse on what was on the front of his hoodie and almost died laughing.

"Well I wonder where that idea came from" he thought to himself as he stepped up to the Stall.

This Siranzan was definitely different to any of the others. Her fur seemed to have less of that glossy sheen and more of a somewhat fluffed up weariness to it, her eyes were a little bloodshot and there were bags under her eyes and she slouched a little, leaning on one elbow tiredly.

"Sleepless night?" He asked politely, stepping out into the visible spectrum and holding out a copy of the book, which she accepted with apparent gusto, but her tone conveyed a craving for sleep and yet a sort of bulging excitement

"Yes, been really looking forward to today … but" she looked around, and gave a small sigh

"Not a lot of people seemed to have turned up so far" she said sadly, flipping the cover of the book open to the first page and pulling a biro out from somewhere.

"_To_?" she asked hesitantly, almost as if expecting him to reconsider buying the book and walk out

"_Miles Prower_" Miles finished, a small smile curling at the edges of his mouth, in her excitedness, it took a few moments for the effect of those to sink in, she muttered to herself a little as she signed the book.

"To, _Miles Prower_, I hope you enjo-" … then the words sunk in, she stopped, her face went a sort of palsy white and the biro fell from her hand and hit the floor with a small clatter, rolling away across the floor. She stared at him with a mixed feeling of bewonderment and astonishment and shock, Miles kept his face straight and picked the book up from the stall and closed it, tucking it back under his arm.

"How is your Mother" he asked, with a slight note of longing in that voice, there was something he wasn't telling, but whatever it was was beyond her comprehension.

Siranzan took a long drink of water before speaking, suddenly finding her throat as dry as dust

"F-fine, still … the same" she admitted, Miles face didn't alter, but his eyes did, the crimson glow behind them flickering sadly a little.

"Next time you see her-"

"I will" she interjected, knowing what he was going to say before he mentioned it, she guessed that he already knew … well it wouldn't be the first time.

"Thank you" Miles said with a slight, respectful inclination of his head, he turned and walked around the corner out of her sight, that look of shock was still etched on her face like a carving. He glanced around, then beckoned to the Purple Siranzan, who sauntered over, her expression mildly curiously.

"Why don't you go meet yourself?" he recommended "I think she's in need of some comforting at the moment"

"Why can't you do it?"

Miles shook his head "Too much … emotion" he said bluntly "and besides I need to get going"

He glanced at his wrist, except that there was no watch there, but he apparently seemed to read something in the gesture.

I'll come pick you up in a few … years" he said jokingly, pushing Siranzan a little towards her Alternate "Try not to change History TOO much"

Siranzan was about to object rather strenuously, but then she felt the pair of hands leave her back … and found that her bastardised parental figure had vanished, like he had such a habit for doing so and she bit back the urge to scream explicatives at the empty space he had been in for several hours, that would have been what she had done, had not '_coincidence_' struck first.

There was the sound of plastic rolling along would, and she felt a pen gently touch her foot with a silent _clang!_ Bending down, she picked it up, a biro, and look of incomprehension crossing her face, then she felt a tap on her shoulder and shuddered, then she realised who was standing behind her.

"Excuse me .. could I have my Pen back?" asked Siranzan, looking at herself with a slightly odd expression. "Don't I know you?"

This time the moody purple Kitsune couldn't hold it back.

"_Bugger_!"

-----

There was an awkward space between them now, far from dispassionate, more like a tender embarrassment, even being in the same room together made them both turn an indescribable scarlet. It was weird really, after being so close, so so so so so _close_, in both a literally and physical sense, now they would rather lose a limb then be in the same room as each other like they were now.

They sat on the soft, at opposite ends, squished against either arm in a desperately failing attempt to get away, Vanilla hadn't said a word to Tails, just pushed her through the door and close it again, but she was still there, waiting outside, guarding most of the ways out of the house, she was waiting for something, but Tails wasn't sure what.

He coughed distractedly, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Uhhhhh Cream? .. do you want a drink?" he asked about as tentatively as he dared,

"No thank you" her reply was very high-pitched, and just as tentative and nervous as his was, well at least they could both still talk, good.

"Look here, Cream, about the last couple of days-" he started, but was cut-off by what he could describe only as a hiss from Creams lips. Now for those of you of whom have ever met Cream the Rabbit, then you will know that generally, 99.9% of the time she is a calm, caring, well-mannered individual and extremely cute, its that 0.1% of time which you _really_ need to steer clear of and, so very unfortunately for Tails, he just happened to now meet Little Miss Zero Point One Percent.

"_No_ **you** look here Miles Prower" was about as civilised as the rest of it, and left Tails wincing at the use of his first name, if she was anything like her mother then-

The next … 14 and a half minutes were not particularly very pleasant for Tails, a detailed and heavily censored transcript of which can be found in his Diary if you happen to own a copy, however I cannot repeat it here personally for Copyright Reasons, and the fact that it contains enough explicatives, insulting metaphors and generally angry conversation, by a normally polite individual, to fill a black hole. The words, "_irresponsible_", "_blockhead_" and "_IDIOT_" being some of the more nicer things she called him, she even went, in mid-monologue, as far as to suggest that someone in is parentage might have gone as far as to marry someone who was mentally retarded, which is not a very pleasant thing to say about anyone.

Now of course you can immediately imagine Tails expression, a mixture of shock, horror and general OMFG! …. WHAT WAS THAT, and of course, he had just had to change his entire perspective of the way he looked at the little Rabbit for the second time in so many days, it was sort of refreshing really, it showed that he didn't know EVERYTHING about her, not yet anyway.

Cream finished her oration as suddenly as she started, turning from a towering pillar of angst, rage, sadness, passion, love, anger, fury, spite and generally rabid emotional crap, back into a peaceful little rabbit in a matter of a single moment, where she stood smiling at Tails, who had quite literally pressed himself back into the sofa as far as he could, and hoping every second that the Sofa would transform into a monster and swallow him whole, which would have been preferable to enduring the verbal onslaught.

The Rabbit sat herself back down on the sofa, this time directly next to Tails, causing him to flinch violently, and resist the temptation to scramble out of her reach, she reached up, and gently, ever so gently, kissed him on the cheek, which made his heart skip and beat … several beats, so many beats her thought for a moment his heart and stopped, but then the next beat came and he realised that perhaps, just perhaps, he had deserved every word she had just said … well, MOST of it anyway.

He felt a sudden urge in his chest, which was immediately overruled by a deep-rooted sense of self-preparation … which surprised him, he felt like he was about to drop off a cliff into a pit of … Cream?

It was when she very carefully placed one hand on his knee that he decided that maybe, just maybe she was trying to seduce him but … something didn't ring right, something was out of place, and he wasn't quite sure what, it was at that moment he decided that he _didn't _want this going any further, not with her mother outside the door.

"Ah, errrr Tea, Cream?" he asked hastily, noting the hint of disappointed in her eyes as she adjusted herself more comfortably on the sofa, clutching a cushion across her chest.

"Aww … okay" she said, and you could almost feel the disappointment in her voice, mumbling something of an affirmative, he almost sprinted into the kitchen, pausing for a moment, hiding himself behind the central column in the middle of his kitchen, Tails could feel an odd taste in the back of his throat, and immediately paused himself a glass of water.

Feeling the cold, clear liquid down his throat made him feel much better, and it cleared his head a little, downing half of the glass, he flicked the kettle onto boil and set about finding some tea mugs. He climbed up on the counter-top and began rummaging around in the shelves and cupboards up high, muttering to himself about getting the shelves moved down so he didn't have to climb up and get anything he need to.

Reaching right tot the back, past a variety of spices, pots and pan, some pasta and a stray screw, he eventually found some mugs, pulling them from the back of the shelf to the front he examined them, blowing the dust off and examining the patterns on the enamel surface.

He remembered buying this one, there was something about the patterns, dozens and dozens of thick black letters place atop each other in an apparently random pattern which appealed to him. He blinked as a small piece of dust flew into his eye, rubbing his eye frantically, he almost lost his balance, regaining it just on the edge of the marble surface, he looked back at the cup to make sure that he hadn't broken it … and he had to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

It was like a pattern, as if … there was no longer a randomness to the letters, but a sequence of chaos, organised chaos, which seemed to have once transcended comprehension, now made sense, perfect, clear, pure sense. The letters seemed to move, forming patterns … no, not patterns, words! Which wound themselves around the cup in a long, single strand, almost like a letter.

The mug now read:

_So Yeah, I Figured__ you'd EVENTUALLY need to find a Tea Mug for some reason, basically, break this after reading it, and you'll find something which will come in useful in a few minutes, enjoy_

_M_

After reading and re-reading the message twice, he thought for a moment, M? … _M_?_ … _**M**?, M? then, for the second time that afternoon the cogs in his head very slowly began to move again, churning and whirling to eventually produce something not very dissimilar to a cognitive mush … but at least it was working, and Tails suddenly felt a small chill run down his spine as he unequivocally fitted letter to individual and swallowed awkwardly.

"Tails?"

A the sound of Cream's voice, Tails jumped a foot in the air, there was a loud, and possibly distinctly hollow, _thock!_ as Tails felt the back of his head collide with the marble worktop, and as everyone knows, when it comes to rock versus skull, rock wins.

Tails spent approximately a moment in complete agony, clutching at the back of his head before he finally felt suitably within his pain threshold to uncurl himself from his ball like position, had Miles actually intended that to happen, or indeed, if he had seen it coming he could have at least warned him, oh well.

It was at that point that he realised that something was clutching his hand, clutching it very tightly indeed in an almost vice-like grip, almost crushing it. He looked up, momentarily forgetting where he was and wondering who was holding his hand with such compassion.

But before he could, his eye caught something, something shiny in the wreckage of the broken mug.

---

Whilst all of this had been unfolding, and indeed even before that, a pair of chocolate brown eyes had been watching with an astute view of everything, after all it was a mother prerogative to make sure nothing untoward happened to her daughter, no matter how *ahem* … aroused or emotionally unstable she may feel.

It was not, however, Tails's, perhaps justified, lack of response that surprised her, but what happened next, peering through the Kitchen, she noted the scene with a small amount of amusement, but that little 'Mother's' instinct in the back of her head tingled slightly … something didn't seem just quite right about this whole situation, there was just a little too much … coincidence.

"You're the first person to catch onto that you know Vanilla" a voice said behind her, which caused the rabbit to freeze, she very carefully turned around, the voice seemed … familiar, although she couldn't quite think where she had heard it.

To Miles, her expression was just about as unblinking as it had been when he had apparently first 'met' her, locked away in a corner at the back of Tails's mind, unable to do anything but watch, and there had been something about her that had impressed him, for all that kind and fluffy rabbit she could be VERY firm indeed.

"I assume that your Miles then"

Her voice was cold, just a little cold, which made him shudder a little, and shee had one eyebrow raised at an angle which seemed to be aiming in his general direction, a very serious weapon indeed.

Miles raised his gloves-clad paws in a mock form of surrender.

"Peace ma'am, I'm not here to cause trouble"

"Then what are you here to do then?" her voice was like ice, thick, cold, sharp ice which you would find on the edge of a dagger which was made of ice, and would be very sharp indeed. However, no matter how much this caused him to wince, a small, mischievous grin slipped around the edges of his lips.

"Why to watch of course"

"Watch? … watch what?"

"Events unfolding"

Miles nodded towards the window, curious, Vanilla turned back, watching with a sort of intentness at the situation unfolding through the glass.

---

Tails knelt on the floor and gently moved a curved shard of broken enamel to one side, the letters now stilled and no longer moving, he felt his hand touch some cold, something metal, and there was the faint sound of something metal grinding against the stone floor. Pulling the item out, he deposited it in his gloved palm, observing it gently.

It was a ring, simply designed, there was no mark upon it to distinguish it in any way, shape or form, it was just a simple band of silver metal bent perfectly into a band and circle, small enough to fit on a finger … finger …. finger?

There was something about that word 'finger' … something … _important_ … but he couldn't remember what, but it was REALLY important, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really IMPORTANT, but what it was escaped him. An image flashed in front of his mind's eye, several images … hadn't he seen this ring before … yes … yes he had … but when? … he couldn't remember when, but he had seen it before…

Hadn't it been … no … yes … no … maaaaaaaaybe … yes, he had seen it before, another image flickered across … wasn't … wasn't this _Cream's_ … no … why would it be in his house … no wait … he hadn't seen this in years … LOTS of years … yes … she was wearing it when she first came round … and … and he hadn't seen it since … and … and hadn't he always wondered what happened to it … n- … yes … yes he had, he _had_ always wondered what had happened to it.

His mind now made up, if still a little dizzy, Tails beckoned oddly to Cream, who had been standing in the doorway, watching him curiously. Feeling a little … dis-jointed, in a completely innocent gesture, Tails very gently took a hold of her left hand in his.

"I believe this belongs to your Cream" he said, then he slipped then ring on one of her fingers.

There was a pause, and Tails watched almost stupidly as the small rabbits brown eyes flicked frantically from the ring now on her finger, to his eyes, and back again, lots of times, he could see confusion there, confusion and emotion and … surprise … what would she be surprised about … all he was doing was … giving … her … her …. ring …… back .............. _Bugger_!

At the same moment as that last thought crossed his mind, Cream seemed to swell a little, then she jumped on him, kissing him soundly on the lips, Tails wasn't sure how much time passed after that, everything seemed to be sucked toward and into that moment, she wasn't being 'tentative' or 'reserved' now, there was passion and fire and urge in that kiss now, then things seemed to suddenly fast forward and all he remembered hearing next was the front door slam with an audacious bang! … and Miles 'Tails' Prower realised he may have just started one hell off a BIG misunderstanding.

---

Miles leaned back against the side of the house, he didn't particularily like to screw with peoples memories, but this was a _very_ special occasion, memories are precious, and messing around with them can have serious side-effects if it isn't done carefully by a professional, and Miles was more then qualified, he watched a smal, fluffy cloud pass in front of the sun, cast a small amount of darkness on what should have been a happy moment for him.

"Was it worth it?"

Miles had intended to keep that intensly personal comment to himself, but somehow it was almost as if Vanilla could read minds, or that he just happened to vice that aloud without realising it, her eyebrow went just a little higher as she rounded on him.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh its nothing ma'am"

The eyebrow crept up another millimetre, causing Miles to flinch

"Okay, okay settle down Vanilla" he said, clutching his heart momentarily to stop himself from having a heart-attack, God that woman was scary as hell.

"Well then would you care to elaborate on that comment Mr. Miles" Vanilla requested politely, although it was still cold.

Miles sighed, there was no getting out of this one.

"You want the Truth?"

"The Truth, the WHOLE Truth and NOTHING but the Truth"

"Okay then"

Miles sat on the grass, his expression pensive, thoughtful, and one could almost say … remorseful, he snapped his fingers and made a small, curious gesture, the world around them seemed to flicker suddenly … and then it stopped, Time itself had frozen around them, a private thinking space you could call it. Miles shifted uncomfortably for a moment, and then he began his epithet.

"Basically ………. it came down to a choice" the emotion was etched into his voice with a hammer and chisel, emotions which any creature should deserve pity for possessing.

"A choice?"

Miles sighed again

"Yes ma'am … a choice"

"between whom?"

"Don't you mean between _what_"

The eyebrow crept up a little more again, and now Miles was mildly sure that Vanilla must have a forehead of elastic to have eyebrows that can go that high, he gave another sad sigh and then continued with his melancholy repertoire.

"I- I-I-I- was given a choice"

"Between what then"

Miles sounded more like he was at the Nuremberg Trials being tried for a war criminal, attempting to justify the horrors committed in some long forgotten war which everyone had forgotten but he felt that he needed to bring to light, and as much as he sounded like he wanted to reveal it, there was a still a desperate ingrained need to not reveal in, as if it seemed to cause him some sort of physical pain .

"Don't- Don't make me say it, _please_"

He was on his knees now, almost begging now … yet Vanilla was unyielding, very unyielding, that eyebrow crept up again and the black fox writhed a little on the spot … the attack seemed to stop as quickly as it started, but he was sweating heavily, his face was ashen.

"Okay … okay, I …. I was given a choice between-"

Then a single tear rolled down his cheek, hitting the grass without a voiceable sound, Miles look … could you say broken? … well, no in a physical sense … an emotional sense. The Irony was not lost upon him, seeing how he had come into existence in the first place. Vanilla's facial expression didn't change, it didn't need to, not at all, she was going to stand there until she got an answer out of him and he knew that, he knew that all to well, and that was what pained him even more.

"Between?!!!" Vanilla's voice was almost like thunder, demanding and as unalterable as stuff itself.

"It was … s-s-s-stupid r-r-really, I mean, it w-w-w-was for the b-b-best, I mea-"

"_Between?!!!_"

"CREAM!"

The word tore itself from his lips like a Force 12 Hurricane, there was frustration and despair and anger and hopelessness etched into that 5-letter name, the name of the person he loved. The single tear that had seemed so … gentle, now unleashed a stream, they were pouring down his dark cheeks, he fell forward on his hands, as clear tears now dripping from his crimson eyes, running down his cheeks before falling onto the grass.

"Cream and Power"

The words hurt coming out, hurt so much, to admit the bare fact of what he had had to do.

"Eithe- Either I could … I could leave all this behind, t-t-transcend all of this" he said with a weak wave of his hand

"leave it all and wander Time and Space and Stuff for all eternity, on and on and on, _ad infinitum_, to gain the power of a God, of Gods, that mere mortals would dream for, that the richest would give all their wealth for, Faustaus would give his Soul for, that Lucifer himself would desire to overthrow his Creator, the very understanding of the matrixes of Stuff … or … or" the stream of tears doubled and redoubled, the fox was shaking now, sobbing with despair and sadness and regret, deep, deep regret, he swallowed and looked up at Vanilla, he had to do this, admit this to himself … finally … finally put her out of his reach … for … for all of his eternal life.

"or … I could be with … be with _her_"

Then he bowed his head in shame and anguish and continued crying, there, he had said it, but even as the that final word left his lips, he felt damned, and a small part of him wished that the ground would open up and swallow him and consume him and drag him to Hell, which actually existed, he had been there, not a very pleasant place to say the least.

Then Vanilla did something unexpected, Miles had predicted maybe a slap at the very least, but she didn't … instead she picked up the fox, and hugged him, a comforting, motherly hug, which only a caring mother could give. Yet … as much as the black fox almost seemed to relish that embrace, the feeling withered and turned black and died … yet, still he found it soothing all the more.

The tears of regret and remorse and sorrow soon dried on his cheeks, but those crimson eyes now seemed … hardened? … yes, they had adapted, evolved, something that immortals were supposed to be unable to do, yet had had somehow done so, mentally if not physically as well. As he was released, he caught her hand gently.

"Thank you" he said solemnly, kissing her hand formally, he seemed to flicker slightly as he straightened and released her hand, almost like interference on a television, then he slowly faded out of existence, off to some plane of existence of which is beyond comprehension or understanding of any being on any realm of reality, yet to one who has no home upon them, they are their home perhaps, yet Vanilla could have sworn he was still crying inside, even as he vanished, not for the last time either, as Time began to, very slowly, move forward again.

(Anyone else feel pity? sad? Some form of emotion for Miles, if not, then spare the poor bastard a thought, the decision was already made up he had no hope at all, of course, what you've just read is only half of Miles tragic tale, as for the other half … well your going to have to wait and see, and he isn't the only one with a tragic tale, Siranzan has one too, but which one? once again you will have to find out … oh and in-case you haven't figured it out, there's going to be a wedding! Yay! … which means there is going to be one hell of a party, and even more of a hell of a bumpy road BEFORE the wedding, I have some serious/comedical moments planned for this, so hold onto your hats ladies and gents … no seriously, Chico has a thing for hats, and MAKE SURE YOU REVIEW!

~Siranzan)


End file.
